


Suzume no Namida

by Salty_Nebula



Category: Lilo & Stitch (2002)
Genre: Anxiety, Chronic Illness, Disability, Dysfunctional Relationships, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Mental Health Issues, Minor Violence, Self-Acceptance, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:35:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 87,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27930871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salty_Nebula/pseuds/Salty_Nebula
Summary: Heat, Hammerface, Thresher, and Plasmoid are activated and given the important mission in capturing Stitch for Gantu. However, things soon go awry as the four realize things are not as they seem. Now trapped in Gantu's ship, the group plan on escaping with the other experiments they find there, but this proves far more difficult than expected...
Comments: 6
Kudos: 4





	1. Four

_Foreword:_

_This was originally the update that I put at the end of the story (on Fanfiction.net), but I’ve decided to move it here because...I kind of like for there to only be thirty chapters, I don’t know, it just looks nice to me, I am sorry lol_

_Anyways, again I know this story hasn’t gotten much when it comes to feedback, but I really appreciate that it has. I’m a shy person, and it’s hard for me to respond to people, but I really do treasure the comments I get on this. It’s a very personal story and I draw from a lot of experience with my disabilities and past trauma for it._

_That and I am completely shameless in liking the experiments I have as main characters here. And in reworking Angel’s character._

_Her personality took a lot of work and watching Gravity Falls episodes that focused on Mabel (her main influence alongside Star Butterfly)._

_I write this as I finish chapter 24, so this story is approaching its end; there will probably be a few more reworks down the line, but not many given this latest one. I’m happy with this story and I want to make more expanding on it. It started out as my wanting to write a nuanced fic about a situation like the one at Gantu’s ship, but over time I started to branch out and make more and more stories surrounding it in between writing chapters, so it’s safe to say this has become the central narrative in my stuff, and I’m happy with that. I’m happy with what this fic has become, and I hope I can keep making others like it in the future._

**Suzume no Namida**

**Chapter One: Four**

A brilliant flash of light revealed a well-lit metal floor, the reflections of the overhead lights being partially blocked out by experiment 609’s shadow. 609 momentarily froze in confusion; deactivation was odd; it felt like he’d been staring at Jumba only a second or two ago only to now be faced with this new metal floor and strange lights. But then again-from what Jumba had told him beforehand, no one would remember being deactivated, much less how long they were like that. His mind felt foggy, his memories faint and cluttered as he tried to piece together where he was.

609 suddenly sensed movement out of the corner of his eye. He guessed it must be Jumba, though the location was definitely strange; either the lab must’ve gotten new lighting, or they’d simply been moved to a different one all together. He looked up to see who it was, and immediately felt his stomach drop through the floor.

This...whoever this was, they weren’t Jumba. That was obvious.

He was also probably in a lot of trouble.

Scowling down at 609 was a gigantic shark-like alien with featureless blue eyes and a deadly serious expression, watching 609 intently as he towered over him. It was then that 609 realized he was inside a container, the thick glass reflecting the bright yellow lights of the room. Fear instantly gripped him; being stolen was one option, so was being sold, as was a raid on the lab and a bunch of other possibilities-none of which good for anyone, let alone himself.

“Welcome, Heat.”

609 stared at the alien in renewed confusion before putting his hands to the glass, but before he could fully process the bizarre greeting, the alien was already walking to his left, listing off what 609 assumed to be three other names; “Thresher, Plasmoid, and Hammerface”.

Three experiments were standing beside him in similar containers, looking just as puzzled as he was. “Thresher”, the closest, was familiar as 609 could remember seeing him in the lab’s experiment files but couldn’t remember his number. He recognized 617 in between Thresher with his usual scowl, but couldn't see much of the last experiment-who’s flat nose was the only part of him visible at the moment. Squinting in his direction revealed gray hands with dark nails placed on the glass similar to himself.

Not appearing to notice the experiments’ confusion, the alien continued on, crossing his arms behind his back and stopping near the last container, “I’m going to train you into the leanest, meanest unit in the galaxy, and send you on a very important mission. This is your target.”

He took a picture out of his pocket and showed it to the experiments. 609 blinked as he gazed at the image; the picture showed a small blue experiment sitting on sand, smiling and waving at the camera next to a bucket and a small shovel with a large forest in the background.

After a short silence, “Hammerface”-the experiment furthest from him, spoke up, ”Who are you, and who is this in the picture? You don’t activate and order us to simply capture someone, especially when it’s another experiment.”

The alien seemed to expect this burst of questions from the experiment, who’d now taken his hands off the glass and had stepped forward, crossing his arms. While 609 still couldn’t see much of him, he caught sight of a furrowed brow and a sullen, slightly sunken eye as Hammerface glared upwards in suspicion.

“I am Gantu, now former captain of the Galactic Federation. I am here on a mission to capture the experiments released on this planet by your creator, this experiment, and his friend. I found the four of you in a junk store and took you to help me accomplish it.” The alien said, introducing himself with a raised brow to Hammerface..

“And do what with us?” Hammerface pressed, his eyes narrowing in response, “We weren’t created to be ordered around.”

“...True, but at least you’re still fulfilling your programming. Had I not discovered your pods, you would’ve been found by 626; the experiment I showed you just now.” Gantu said, “The reason I have come to capture the experiments is because 626, your creator, and a girl from this planet have taken it upon themselves to capture you and reverse your programming.”

“What do you mean? Jumba wouldn’t reprogram us-“

“No, but the little Earth girl would.”

Hammerface and now 617 blinked at Gantu as a tense silence fell over the room. 609 nervously glanced around before deciding to speak up; this was making absolutely no sense whatsoever, “But-but I don’t think she could-“

Gantu quickly turned and stared at 609, his eyes narrowing at his interjection, ”Actually Heat, it is happening regardless of what you think; at least twenty experiments have been reprogrammed by these three to slave away on this planet. What do you have to say to them, including some of the ones I’ve personally managed to reclaim?”

609 instantly averted his eyes from Gantu and stared at one of the lights off to the side; he didn’t like the look he was being given nor the feeling of guilt that was coming over him. He shouldn’t have said anything if it’d get him this kind of bizarre reaction; he felt his fur beginning to stand up in unease at the onslaught of questions-if he could even call them that-he couldn’t describe them, but they sounded weird in response to a small one like his own...

“How about you answer him, asshole?” 617 snapped, angry at Gantu’s targeting of 609, “How the hell is this kid responsible for flat out reprogramming us? Last time I checked, **609’s** right-that’s next to impossible to do even for Jumba, so what's she doing to them?”

“It means what you might assume.” Gantu said matter of factly, turning back to 617.

“Oh, that’s cute, because we don’t KNOW what’s going on you dick!” 617 shouted, causing Thresher and 609 to jump in surprise, “You activate us and tell us all this weird shit that makes no sense, you’re an ass to 609, you call us by these stupid names, what the fuck is going on?!”

“Alright then.” Gantu’s voice hardened as he scowled down at 617, “Plasmoid, your fellow experiments are being turned “good”-or reprogrammed to not want to cause chaos like you’re all created to do, not even to defend themselves. I’ve been able to recapture some from them, and was able to do so with ease, since they usually do nothing to fight against me.”

617 turned silent at this and Hammerface’s mouth fell open in horror. 609 looked to Thresher for some kind of explanation, being lost on what the other two had realized. However, Hammerface spoke up, his voice trembling slightly, “So they’re being brainwashed.”

“...Admittedly-you could view it as that given original programming. They’re turned “good” and put to work on some part of this planet, often taking demeaning jobs.” Gantu said, “I know of a particular one who makes an Earth food known as “milkshakes” all day, yet he was designed to create earthquakes.”

“…513?” 617 asked quietly as 544 fearfully stared at Gantu. Despite staying silent, he seemed to recognize who this particular experiment was. 

Gantu nodded gravely, “This is why I took you the moment I found your pods. Had you been found by this girl or 626, the same fate would’ve befallen the four of you.”

“There is hope however,” He said, glancing at the now terrified 609 and Thresher, “We can still rescue these experiments, including the ones that have been captured by these three. I would like you four to help me on this mission in finding the experiments still deactivated and rescuing the ones who have been put to work on this planet. In exchange, you are free to use your abilities however you wish and have full reign of this ship and the surrounding area.”

Finishing his explanation, Gantu stood back and crossed his arms at the four, “So, do we have a deal?”

The experiments glanced anxiously at each other; 609 hugged himself, placing his back against the container and staring at his right antenna. He flicked at it anxiously; he didn’t like Gantu’s tone-it was really forceful, similar to how Jumba sounded when he demanded he practice his abilities. But at the same time, there was at least some reason behind this with experiments being captured and brainwashed on this unknown planet-and by the very person who made them no less.

He heard Hammerface sigh, “We don’t have a choice-don’t give us the impression. But I agree to this...”deal”, as you put it.”

“I’m in too-asshole thinks he can just make us to cause chaos and then yank us out of it?! Fuck him-and fuck whoever 626 is too.” 617 snarled, startling 609, as he looked over to see 617 was near ready to blow his way out of his container. 617 paused at 609’s movement, having sensed it out of the corner of his eye. “Agh-sorry-you’re in too though, right 609?” He asked, trying to lower his voice to accommodate him.

“I…uh-yeah-I mean yes-yes, I’m in.”

He’d stumbled over his words, but 617 took it in stride, squinting and giving him a wide smile with his ears drawn back. 609 had known him only a short while in the lab, as 617 was extremely successful and was always being trained by Jumba, but they’d always been on good terms; 617 standing up to Jumba for 609, and 609 keeping him warm with his thermal abilities when the lab became too cold. 609 smiled back at 617; it felt good to at least have him to talk to, even if the situation they were in was so serious. 617 turned towards Thresher, tapping the side of his container with his front leg to get his attention, “Hey-what about you? You haven’t talked throughout this whole thing by the way-you okay?“

Thresher’s stalk eyes swiveled towards 617 for a moment, then turned away to gaze at the floor. 609 could see he was uncomfortable-he’d been staring out the windows of the ship the whole conversation, and seemed to refuse to look at anyone. It was understandable given the situation and truthfully-none of them really knew each other save 609 and 617, but it was still a bit strange. A full several seconds passed before Thresher finally gave a small nod in agreement, still staring at the floor of his container.

“So you are all in agreement. Well done men, you’ve done a great service to your fellow experiments.” Gantu pressed a button on the front of the ledge holding the four in their containers, causing them to shoot upwards and away from the four experiments.

609 watched as the containers receded through holes momentarily opening up in the ceiling. He could sense some heat coming from there, as well as the sound of soft humming running through the machinery. He turned to the others and attempted to talk with them, seeing as 617 was already focused on Thresher and himself and Hammerface was making his way over to them, crossing his arms and shooting Gantu a distrustful glance. However, before he could say anything, he was stopped by the former captain, who put his hand out to get their attention.

“Glad to see you’ve already started getting to know each other, but now that you’ve agreed to this, I may tell you something much more important; the specifics of this mission-one of many you’ll be taking in the future in regards to this planet and your fellow experiments.”

With that, he abruptly put his arms behind his back, causing the four to exchange skeptical glances. The experiment I’ve showed you, as you are now aware, is known as 626. He along with the girl I mentioned prior and your creator have taken it upon themselves to capture the rest of the experiments scattered around this island. At the moment, I do not know how many these three have captured, but I estimate the number to be twenty, or around it.”

“So you don't know then. That's nice.” Hammerface said sarcastically, “Anything else “important” we need to hear, or is that it?” He put his fingers up in mock quotations as he asked, the other three snickering behind him.

Gantu scowled in mutual irritation at Hammerface. He'd never seen such a sardonic 0-series; it was actually a little jarring to meet one who was this insolent given the rest of the members he'd previously encountered. Angry as he was, and as much as he was satisfied the four weren't too skeptical of him-his brainwashing story had worked incredibly well-something he was now proud of, 033, or now “Hammerface,” was clearly the one he'd need to watch. Something on his file in the computer had caught Gantu’s attention; several statements about the experiment’s history in the lab-none of which were flattering. “Uncooperative”, “Demands order”, “Controlling”, and “reminiscent of ex-wife” weren’t things he’d heard from any other experiment’s entries...let alone an ex-wife comment.

He’d have to contact Hamsterviel; something was wrong with this particular experiment for the computer to make those statements.

“...Anyways, as for where we are, this planet is called “Earth”, and we are currently on one of its many islands. This “Earth girl” I speak of is vastly involved in convincing experiments to take these menial and degrading jobs. Your mission around her is to simply not allow her any of your time. Don’t attack her, but don’t speak to or allow her anywhere near you. She's dangerous and behind many of these reformations, so be careful around her.”

“Your main mission is to capture 626; Jumba and this Earth girl rely on him to capture experiments so they can manipulate them, and he is her closest friend. Capturing him will shut down the other two and prevent them from being able to catch any more experiments without extreme difficulty.”

Gantu placed his hands on his hips and stood back, watching the four as they listened to the lengthy retelling of his mission-now partially theirs as well.

“We start training tonight. I have business to take care of, so it can't be for long. However, I’ve found the perfect target practice for the four of you until you have the time to do so with each other.”

At hearing this, 609 suddenly picked up on something coming from the ceiling; it sounded like whistling-that or muffled singing in a high, nasally voice. It appeared to be traveling across the upper level of the ship, heading towards the elevator.

He swore he saw Gantu smirk at it.

“Ready for a little target practice men?” Gantu asked, turning towards the four. They grunted in approval, 609 nodding as much as his head and floppy ears would allow. He’d been wanting to use his power-the lights had been a nice source of energy even if they weren’t releasing any heat. At the moment, he only had his inner heat energy to go off of...which was plenty enough, but he still would’ve liked some extra.

Gantu pressed another button, this one next to the ledge where they’d been activated, “Commence attack.”

The door of the elevator opened to reveal a very pudgy experiment carrying a bunch of sandwiches piled on a plate and holding another in his free hand. He clearly hadn’t expected to see them as he grinned and held up the sandwich to greet them, ”Hey guys, want a tuna-“

The experiment cried out and ducked as 617 immediately shot several blasts of plasma towards him, barely dodging them as they flew over his head, exploding against the wall of the elevator and melting the plate of sandwiches he’d been carrying.

“…Melt?” he finished, staring in shocked confusion at the now molten bread and lettuce of the top few sandwiches.

617 wasted no time; he grinned and charged up, firing more blasts of red plasma at the experiment, who yelled and threw the sandwiches off his plate, holding it in front of him as a shield as 617 continued to fire.

“Cut it out!” He yelled, peering over the top of the now charred plate. Gantu ignored the experiment, instead turning to 609, “Heat, would you do the honors?” he asked, gesturing towards 625.

He guessed this was his name now? It was weird to have someone refer to him as something different than his number and this would definitely take some getting used to, but he supposed it’d work. 609 raised his ears as he smiled up at Gantu, then turned towards the experiment, who already looked unnerved and was repositioning his plate.

The blast of heat energy 609 released was enough to burn a hole through the plate, the experiment nearly dropping it as he peered through it at them, “That’s not funny!” He yelled, noticing 609’s smirk.

“Thresher, you could use some exercise, jump in at any moment.” Gantu said, 609 and the others watching as the silent experiment jumped forward with surprising speed, extending his spiked, mace-like tentacles towards 625. The pudgy experiment barely managed to dodge and hide under a storage container-which was destroyed in a matter of seconds.

“I’m serious!” He yelled at the experiments, only for Gantu to cross his arms and glare at him, “It’s good to see that you’ve finally become useful, 625.” He said.

609 could hear the venom in Gantu’s voice; it was similar to how he’d talked to him earlier when he’d questioned him about the experiments’ situation, and he couldn’t help but take a step back and glance worriedly at Gantu upon hearing it. Hammerface must’ve noticed as well, because he whirled around in suspicion, “And you mean that by what? From how he’s reacted to us, he didn’t even know we were here, much less that we’d be practicing our abilities.”

Gantu turned his glare straight towards Hammerface, “I think you may want to stop asking questions for the time being-in fact, since you clearly think you know more about this situation than I do, why don’t you participate? Your file says you’re a powerful and successful zero series experiment after all.”

“That’s not going to work on me-“

Hammerface was suddenly interrupted by a loud yelp. He spun around to see 625 had been thrown into the wall by Thresher and was now curling up, placing his hands over his eyes as the octopus-like experiment began to charge towards him. Breaking off his growing argument with Gantu, Hammerface ran past 609 and 617 towards Thresher, “Hey-hey that’s enough! Get back!” He yelled, darting in front of 625 and spreading his arms wide to defend the pudgy experiment, “Turn around, and head back to the other two.”

It took 609 a couple of seconds to see why Hammerface had dove in front of 625, but a glance to the ground beside Thresher revealed a tuft of yellow hair along with a couple drops of pink blood speckling the floor. He felt a chill run up his spine and instantly turned away, a knot beginning to grow in his stomach. Thresher glanced over and winced at the sight, turning his eyes towards the ground in shame.

Hammerface turned and glared at Gantu, “Training is over.”

“Actually, I get to decide when it’s over-since I’m leading you, Hammerface.” Gantu snapped.

“You said I’m a zero? I’m a household helper, so I’m doing my job, you cretin. Go take care of whatever idiotic business you have and leave us alone! I’m handling this so-called “training session” of yours for now.” Hammerface snapped.

Gantu glared at Hammerface, but backed down, taking a step away from the four and crossing his arms, “Alright, fine, have it your way, the uppermost level of the ship has some sleeping quarters.” He stormed past them, traveling down the elevator and leaving the five experiments to themselves.

Hammerface glared after Gantu and shook his head in disgust before turning to 625 and offering his hand to the trembling experiment, who’d managed to get himself into a sitting position during the confrontation, “Can you stand? Or do you want any help?” He asked gently, hearing Gantu continuing to storm in the background on the level below them.

“I-I think so,” The experiment slowly raised himself up, placing a hand against the storage container to steady himself as he did so, “well-I uh, I guess I’ll need to make more sandwiches, right?” He asked, offering the four a small smile.

Hammerface frowned at 625; he’d been cut up on his head and arm from Thresher’s attack and he was placing a hand on his wrist-a sign it may be sprained. Whoever this experiment was, he was clearly trying to hide how injured he truly was despite the obvious sight of them. “Well then 625, you should forget about the sandwiches and come to the upper level with us-I don’t know what’s going on here, but we’re not being told what’s happening, and you need to be patched up.”

“Well, actually I’m fine-six series and all ya know, so I don’t need any help.” The experiment said, beginning to walk away from the four. However, 625 only managed to take a couple of steps before wincing in pain, holding his wrist against his stomach. “…Or not.”

Hammerface wordlessly took him by the shoulders and guided him back towards the other three. Everyone looked scared and tired; Plasmoid and Heat were still staring at both him and 625’s injuries in silent horror, and Thresher was still gazing at his feet and away from them, still guilty about injuring 625. 033 sighed; he felt the same, and worse yet, he didn’t know who these four were. Their designs all screamed that they were Jumba’s, but they must be highly advanced-and inexperienced given what he’d seen of them. “Okay, Thresher? Don’t be upset at yourself. I don’t think anyone realized this was going to get out of control.” 

Whether Thresher heard him or not was unclear, but the other two exchanged worried glances, Plasmoid shifting from one leg to the other and Heat pulling at one of the antenna on his arm. 033-he refused to call himself “Hammerface”-whatever that so-called name was-could still hear Gantu stomping on the lower level, seemingly ranting to himself about the failed training session.

He grimaced at the noise before turning to the others. 

“Everyone up to the upper level. I want us as far away from the idiot down there as possible.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It took Hammerface a couple of tries to reach the upper level of whatever ship this was, four unknown experiments he now supposed he was in charge of in tow, one hurt, another guilty, and the last two too scared to even speak despite their familiarity with each other. Reaching the top floor revealed a single pilot ship with several blankets and pillows messily strewn about on the floor beside it. Hammerface curled his lip in disgust; he’d been created to do household chores and maintenance-seeing this excuse of “sleeping quarters” as Gantu had put it was insult to injury.

Opening one of the cupboards revealed he’d managed to find some of the ship’s medical supplies by a stroke of luck. Sitting 625 down one of the blankets, he opened the kit and began to dress the cut over his eye, the other three watching him do so in silence. Hammerface decided now would be a good time to try breaking the ice and potentially-getting some information from 625 as to what was actually going on.

“This'll sound stupid, but are you feeling alright? You look pretty shaken up.”

‘…I dunno, I just got attacked by you four for insulting someone about fifty times my size, I guess I might be a little freaked out.” The experiment said, clearly irritated by the question.

“I was just asking, 625.” Hammerface said, “I should’ve stepped in before it got to this-this wouldn’t have happened on Kweltikwan.”

This got the other three’s attention, “Wait-you lived on there? We never got to see it because Jumba was banned from there before we were made.” 609 said, happy to sense a change of subject.

“I know. I was there for said banning. And his horrible wife throwing him out.” Hammerface turned to 609 and saw he’d turned his gaze down to the ground once again, “Oh...I'm sorry. I just didn’t realize this would get dangerous-he clearly didn’t tell 625 anything about a training session.”

609 looked at 625 as Hammerface continued to work on him, “So why were you the person he chose for this “target practice”?” He asked, “It didn’t look like he told you anything about us, much less about being that.”

“I didn’t know he’d do that!” 625 cried, “You’d think he’d be used to me telling him he’s a failure but no-he’s gotta go ahead and bring you four in to do his dirty work!” He crossed his arms and glared at the floor, ”He couldn’t even use his stupid plasma cannon…”

“Wait-so we were pulled in for asshole down there to get back at you.” 617 said, raising an eyebrow at 625, ‘And for you insulting his sorry ass until he snapped.”

“Yep.”

“Damn.”

“That’s…pathetic.”

Everyone started slightly at Thresher’s low, nasally voice as it rang out through the still air of the base. He looked around for a second before turning a reddish-violet, “It is. And I’m...I’m really sorry.”

“Eeh…Apology accepted?” 625 shrugged, “I did tell him his life was a boring failure, but I dunno what his issue was to actually go out and get you four to go after me.”

Hammerface got a pack of bandages out and began wrapping 625’s head, “Do you mean to tell me he regularly acts like this?” He asked. This conversation was now very worrying; 625 was obviously highly resilient, but he only came up to Gantu’s ankle. To hear he was getting treated so poorly was concerning given at this point, the five of them had nowhere else to go. Even if Gantu was lying to them-something 033 strongly suspected-this was an unknown planet they would have a lot of difficulty navigating if they ever escaped.

“Well, no-but he does tend to chase me around when I get him mad enough. Don’t worry-I’m resistant to it so it doesn’t do anything; I actually have all of my cuz 626’s powers.”

“That doesn’t justify it.” Hammerface finished bandaging 625’s head and pointed to his arm, “How’s that? It looks to me you sprained it judging from how you’re holding it.”

625 held out his wrist, Hammerface wrapping another bandage around it, “Well, no obviously, but I have my own ways of getting back at him. I even lasered his butt while he was napping once.” He grinned, but stopped when he saw Hammerface giving him a frown, “...Look, I can handle it alright? And also-what about you? I heard Gantu blabbing about getting a powerful 0-series, so I guess you’re it judging from your head there?”

Hammerface sighed, seeing he was getting nowhere on the issue of Gantu mistreating 625, “He’s not wrong; I’m 033; I’m the second successful experiment with physical strength, and I was created to do household chores and lab work. Spent years looking after Jumba’s home before he was banned from Kweltikwan and got his divorce.”

“I was deactivated then, so I didn’t meet anyone past a mid-three series until now.” He smiled wryly at the four, “I’m my own time capsule at this point.”

“Nice-I’m 617; I was created to fire explosive plasma.” Plasmoid said, grinning back at Hammerface, “And he’s 609-he’s like the laser version of me.” He jabbed a foreleg towards 609, who started and placed a hand to his antenna, pulling at it slightly, “Well-I can absorb and release a ton of heat energy through this organ on my head. Jumba told me it’s a thermal laser, but I’m not sure about that-it feels more like fire to me whenever I use it.”

Hammerface nodded at the two, turning to Thresher, “And how about you?”

“…544.” Thresher’s voice came out even lower and softer than before. It was apparent he was withdrawing from the conversation.

“Alright-544.” Hammerface said, only for 617 to cut in again, “That means he’s designed to destroy environments-and while we’re on that, us in the six series are straight up battlefield experiments.”

Hammerface’s eyes widened, “You’re supposed to be in battlefields? He actually went that far?”

609 raised an eyebrow, surprised despite 033 admitting to being deactivated for a long time, “What do you mean? I thought he made each series to build on the last one. With ours he kind of went all out every time he made one of us.”

Hammerface returned 609’s confused look, “I was deactivated around the four series, so it’s surprising he’d make experiments able to destroy whole planets.” He zipped the kit closed and placed it in the cupboard, walking back to organize the blankets and pillows on the floor. “Alternatively it did lead to three series I have yet to meet, so I'm not complaining about it.”

He glanced out the window as he walked over, seeing dark, immobile forms of alien trees and mountains against a navy blue sky. A single moon surrounded by a scant number of stars and clouds shone just behind the top mountain.

“Anyways, it’s night on this planet, which means we’re going to need to get used to the time zones here. 625, you can go wherever you want since you know this place better than us, though I’d stay away from the bottom level for obvious reasons.”

“Hey-no need to tell me, I’ve got my own place on one of them anyways. But thanks for the help patching me up.” 625 walked to the elevator, waving to them with his uninjured hand before traveling to the level below.

Hammerface arranged the blankets, placing the pillows out at the tops, nodding to the other three, “I don’t know what time it is here, but let’s get some sleep for tomorrow; if today was like this, then tomorrow’s probably going to be harder for us.”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The base of wherever they were was relatively quiet save the hum of machinery and a slight breeze rustling the trees outside, 609 finding it hard to sleep with the deluge of new information and sights he’d experienced within the past few hours. He rolled over in his makeshift bed to look outside the window through the stand of the shuttle, seeing the single moon higher above the mountain and the plants swaying in the breeze. His memories of the old lab were still vague, but he got the impression it’d been slightly more quiet there. He hadn’t seen all of it since his deactivation was earlier than usual, but the image of the local nebulae and stars outside its windows came to mind in contrast to the thick, dark blue atmosphere of the planet.

He suddenly heard a low whisper from behind him, “Hey, 609-you still up?”

609 looked over to see 617 curled up next to him, watching him worriedly. He nodded in answer to the scorpion-like experiment. 617 gulped and gazed around at the large ship looming over the four, “We need to get out of here. I don’t like that Gantu guy-especially not after how he treated you and 625. And also…” He wrinkled his nose, “What was up with the names from him? If he thinks I’m being named after some stupid solar phenomena, he’s an idiot.”

“I don’t know. He called me “Heat” and that’s...pretty uncreative.” 609 said, “Maybe they’re just codenames? At least, I kind of want to think of them as that. Our numbers are our real names and I don’t want to look at what he gave us as anything other than that after what happened with 625.”

“Maybe. He was so weird about them too-all that “Heat” and “Plasmoid” shit-like he was forcing it on us.”

“Yeah. I don’t want something like Heat as my name, especially when it’s going to be yelled at me…we should keep them separate-use our numbers instead of weird stuff like “Heat” and “Plasmoid”.”

609 yawned, the heat-he wasn’t going to be looking at that word the same again-was making him drowsy. Normally it did the opposite since he was a thermal experiment, but he’d used some of his stored energy in the training and it’d come back fairly quickly with the blankets they’d been given. Now, it was just making him tired like it did for most other experiments. “I feel bad for 033-getting well…that as a name…”

617 giggled, ”Worst one of us…then there’s you, Thresher, and then me. Lot of creativity if I’ve ever seen it.” He sighed and repositioned his head, turning it towards the elevator door, “Anyways, I wanna go outside and look around tomorrow. But still-we gotta get out of here, maybe even take that ship above us if 033 knows how to pilot it.”

“Yeah. Get everyone else and just run-that’s pretty much our end goal right now…” 609 trailed off, pulling his cover over him, “I’ll try looking outside with you tomorrow.”

“Thanks.”

609 raised an ear in acknowledgment, turning onto his back and closing his eyes to the dark outline of the ship looming over them.


	2. One Hundred

**Chapter Two: One Hundred**

The blast of the ship’s horn jolted 609 out of a deep sleep; gold light had just begun to fill the top floor, and the moon outside had been replaced by a large sun as the horn continued to blare. 033 snarled and shot up, tossing his blanket across the room in a rage, “The bloody hell!?” He snapped, stumbling to his feet, “We're up dumbass! You get your way!” He stamped on the floor in anger at the alarm’s inappropriate usage, “Shut it off before I crawl up the damn wall and smash the intercom!”

609 and the others watched him confusedly, blinking drowsily at the sudden burst of anger from the older experiment as the horn stopped blaring. 544 surprisingly, was the first to speak up, “..Did-did he really set off the ship alarm just for that?”

“…Yeah, I’m staying right here. What’s he going to do about it? Hit me with plasma? Dick.” 617 said irritably, curling up in his bed, “I’m gonna shoot him if he comes up here.”

609 suddenly heard shouting coming from the lower level; he pricked his ears up, listening closely and opening his mouth for the others to hear.

“NO, IT’S NOT OVER FROM LAST NIGHT; YOU WANTED TO CALL ME THE “BORING FAILURE” AFTER I SPENT THREE HOURS SPILLING OUT MY LIFE STORY, SO NOW YOU CAN GET UP THERE AND GIVE THEM THEIR BREAKFAST SINCE THEY’LL ACTUALLY BE EXERCISING TODAY, UNLIKE **YOU**.”

Gantu’s voice rang so loudly through 609’s brain it actually hurt. He quickly closed his mouth and covered his ears as the others scowled and shook their heads at the argument. It looked as though they’d caught the tail end and 625 was being tormented once again.

A soft whirring could be heard as the chubby experiment came up the elevator, cautiously stepping into the room and balancing a plate of grilled cheese sandwiches in his good hand. He was still bandaged and despite 033 fixing him up the night before, 609 could see he was still a little afraid of them, as 625 was keeping his distance and staring awkwardly at the floor in front of him.

“So uh…I’m just gonna put this here and hide.” He said, giving a glance towards the elevator, “I’m not welcome down there so I’ll be spending the day in the vents or…wherever I can find that’s away from Gantu.”

033 watched 625 in worry, his antenna flattening at the idea the sandwich experiment put forth for a hiding place, “You’re welcome to stay up here until he calms down-whenever that’s going to be. You shouldn’t be doing anything right now, especially when you’re injured.”

“I like making them anyways; it’s fine.”

609 didn’t think he’d seen anyone look as sad as 033 did in response to 625; the tool-headed experiment genuinely looked like he was going to cry from watching 625 trying to downplay this obviously horrible treatment. But it didn’t last for long, as 033’s eyes narrowed and he abruptly strode over to 625, taking the plate of sandwiches out of his hand and setting them on the floor, “625, if he does anything to you today, I’m giving him a concussion-especially if he tries to push his target practice bullshit again.”

625 was taken aback at the older experiment’s sudden change in attitude, holding up his good hand as his eyes bugged out.

“No 625, I’m serious. If he wants to act like an ass, he can be treated like one.” 033 took the topmost sandwich off the stack and handed it to 625, “I barely know anything about this situation and at this point, I don’t care to. He’s a piece of blitznak for ordering you around when you’re injured-and because of him no less.”

“Okay…” 625 carefully took the sandwich from 033, staring down at it for a bit, “Thanks...I guess?”

033 simply nodded as 617 scuttled up, craning his neck at the stack of sandwiches, “So uh-asshole aside, can I have a few? Jumba’s another asshole and didn’t give me any arms.”

“Here,” 033 said, holding back a yawn as he grabbed several, handing them out to both 617 and the other two. “I’m in charge of the training now, so no “Heat”, “Plasmoid”, and “Thresher” crap for starters; we’re going with your numbers.”

609 and 617 perked up and 544 gave a small smile at hearing this. 033 grinned, “I thought that might help.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gantu was waiting for the four when they came downstairs. He frowned at the sight of Hammerface walking out of the elevator first, making way for the other three; they’d already formed a dynamic, and he didn’t like seeing the most difficult of the bunch at the head of it. He stood in front of them and crossed his arms as they formed a small cluster in front of him.

“Alright men, you’ll be training for the entire day. That includes both practicing your abilities and scouting the area around my ship. We attack tonight, so balance your time accordingly.”

“Thanks. I would’ve never guessed otherwise aside from you taking us out that early.” Hammerface snapped, “I’m handling their training, so leave me to it.”

Gantu glared at the older experiment, but said nothing; he wasn't going to start another argument with Hammerface in front of the other three given what he’d just seen, and he would have to come up with some measures to control this particular experiment. His behavior was so confrontational it'd result in an eventual disruption amongst the other three, something he couldn't afford to have.

Telling Hamsterviel about the four had revealed something very unnerving about Hammerface. Being an early 0-series and a household experiment, he’d been in much closer contact with Jumba, his ex-wife, and Hamsterviel than the average experiment, and had spent a grand total of 13 years activated, which according to Hamsterviel, had left him bitter towards both his creator and the person who’d funded him thanks to-in Hamsterviel’s paraphrase-Hammerface describing him and Jumba as his “secondary children”- Jumba had retaliated to the increasing defiance all the way up to Hammerface’s deactivation.

It certainly explained all the mockery of Hammerface in the computer when he’d tried to research him, all the “extra notes” that had consisted of nothing but Jumba complaining about the tool experiment’s uptight behavior and championing a prior experiment as being the “real” fighting experiment instead of him…it was all so unbelievably toxic and he would know of such an environment, given he’d once lived in one. He sympathized with Hammerface, but at the same time, with the distrustful stare from the experiment to himself, he knew he’d need to find a way to control him-in any way possible.

…At least he hoped he’d be able to find a way with how attached everyone else was to him at this point.

“Good. I expect you to be ready by sundown.” He said stiffly as the four filed out the door led by Hammerface, who grunted in what he guessed was equally rigid agreement.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ground level of the ship was cool, a little too much for 544 and 617. The two shivered as 544 found himself sticking close to 609, seeing the entryway to the base in sight as 033 stood in front of them.

“Before we start training, we're doing some scouting around the ship. We're not going far given our situation, but it'll still be beneficial to get a feel for this particular planet.”

544 was the first to perk up upon hearing this; he’d caught some glimpses of the outdoors and from the looks of it, there were hundreds of plants he could practice on as opposed to the disaster the prior night.

033 nodded in agreement upon seeing 544’s enthusiasm, “Gantu didn’t mention any dangerous wildlife, so I think we’ll be alright on that front, but we should still be careful just in case.” He walked over to the side of the entrance and climbed onto a ledge, pressing the button to open it.

“Plus,” He added, jumping back down, “I’m going to be teaching you some of the things that’ll be useful for this mission…at least as much as I can before whenever sunset is here.”

“Ih!”

The others exchanged excited grins; not only would they be exploring an actual planet, but they’d be getting training from a 0-series-someone who probably had years of fighting experience! Even though he’d never physically fought before during his time in the lab-Jumba had only wanted him to use his power-609 couldn’t help but feel a wave of enthusiasm at finally getting to practice.

033 returned the grin; it felt good to have a resounding “Yes” in Tantalog after all the tension the night before. In fact, it reminded him of the 1-series civic disturbances, most of whom were as loud and enthusiastic as these three-or two although 544 was still such when he wanted to be. But speaking of which…

Of course he wouldn’t let them see it, and he hoped they didn’t, but 033 was hit with a sudden wave of fear; all his friends and his partner were still deactivated and he didn’t even want to think about the other option. Reversing morality was dangerous; actual switches were very rare and often done with magic, and he didn’t trust Jumba with such technology.

He hoped 177 was still deactivated at least, wherever her pod had ended up…

033’s growing fear was broken by all three experiments gasping in amazement and rushing past him in a hurry, 609 and 617 cheering in excitement at the rush of sunlight spilling into the ship’s entrance. 033 blinked, then took a breath; he couldn’t focus on this now, not when he had these four to look after. Plus, he had to get a feel for the planet right alongside them. He turned around and stopped dead in his tracks, staring in awe at the clearing stretching out in front of him.

Kweltikwan was a dying planet; it orbited a blue star that had only a couple million years left in its life and it showed. The landscape was a dull purple, the ground ashen gray with black and brown boulders and the sky a deep teal filled with the local nebulae. Plant life was similar, consisting of black and maroon brambles, cacti, and stunted trees that easily burned up in green flame. Animals were small and nocturnal, most living underground, and most cities were confined to pods due to the planet’s diminishing atmosphere. The brightest things on the planet were the flowers produced by the local brambles, many coming in pastel shades of pink, blue, green, and purple.

He wasn’t going to deny the planet had its own beauty, but it was nothing in comparison to Earth.

Gigantic trees with a deep green undergrowth surrounded a large stream broken up by rocks and small boulders, pools of water and mud forming in the crevices gouged out by the ship. 033 could see red, pink, and white flowers peeking out from bushes in the shade, swaying in a light breeze. The large sun shone overhead a waterfall, reflecting off the stream and causing tiny shimmers of light to bounce off the water with the current.

He slowly walked to the edge of the ship’s hatch and placed a hand on its edge in disbelief; he’d never seen a planet that was so bright, let alone experienced the warmth of an orange star-far more temperate than a blue and much more gentle. Earth was so stunning and warm and…alive.

A sudden yell distracted 033 from the view; he turned to see the other three gathered around a large pool of water, 609 and 544 waving for him to come over and pointing excitedly at its depths. 033 made his way over to see the three staring intently at a shaded spot in the pool.

“We saw something!” 617 exclaimed, gesturing to the shadow, “It swam under there and we had a hard time seeing it but it was neat-whatever it was! 544’s gonna try scaring it out, right?”

544 blushed and sheepishly nodded, “I saw it up close-it was some kind of…fish-that’s what I think they’re called?”

“They’re called fish-“ 033 started but stopped upon seeing 544’s face turn an even deeper shade of pink, “oh! It’s fine-there’s so many different organisms around the galaxies it’s hard to keep track of everything. And that’s not even getting into the multiverse...”

He gestured towards the shaded portion of the pool, “It’ll take a bit to come back out, but the fact that it’s there at all means there could be larger stuff around, so that’s good for us as long as nothing’s venomous.”

The other three looked to one another in excitement, then scrambled off further upstream-to the waterfall, much to 033’s worry. “Hey-hey, don’t go too close; I don’t want to have to swim-“

He was interrupted by a loud splash. 033 yelled and rushed to the edge of the pool as 544 held a hysterical 609 halfway out of the water, the latter giggling uncontrollably. 617 peered into the depths in disappointment, clearly upset at having the opportunity to see more Earth wildlife snatched away.

“What did I just say?” 033 said irritably, lifting 609 out of the pool by his shoulders as 617 stuck his tongue out at him in annoyance, “I ask you to be careful and you’re already falling facefirst into pools of water.”

“It’s okay! I’m fine in water anyways!” 609 said in between laughter, “It’s only bad for me if it’s cold.”

033 stared in confusion at the orange experiment before crossing his arms, “Really.”

“Yep! I’m fine-really!”

609 made his way over to a rock, shaking water off his ears and poking at a small crevice. He watched the resulting fingerprint evaporate as 617 scuttled towards him in indignation. Before he could chastise 609 for ruining the opportunity to see more Earth life, his eye caught something past him-something fat, round, and green sitting underneath a tree in the shadows of a bush.

“What the hell?”

609, still drying himself off from the fall, paused in apprehension and slowly turned around.

“…Whoa, what is that?”

033 and 544 exchanged a glance before carefully making their way to the other two.

A strange green creature was sitting in the mud at the edge of the stream; its large eyes protruded out of a flat head and the legs were oddly bent, the creature’s throat bulging out as it stared at the four with its head cocked to the side.

033 returned the stare, raising an eyebrow at the animal; it looked fairly harmless, but of course, this was an unfamiliar planet and he couldn’t be sure what it was actually capable of.

The experiments watched it for several seconds before 033 noticed a tentacle reaching over from the side. He turned to 544 in exasperation, who instantly withdrew it and gave him a wide grin.

“…So we have one falling into the water here and another who wants to touch the local wildlife. Can the three of you just look at it instead? For all we know that could be dangerous.”

“You said there was nothing to worry about.”

“I said there was most _likely_ nothing to worry about, that doesn’t mean you just touch things without knowing what they are. Or run near water and fall in when you probably can’t even swim.” 033 said irritably, putting his hands on his hips, “Can we please just explore the area? Or can we compromise and you just uproot something in the clearing?”

He was answered by 544 once again extending a tentacle-and this time reached the animal before he had a chance to stop him, gently poking it several times before retracting it as the creature croaked and hopped away into the brush.

“…That was very intentional, wasn’t it.” 

“Yes.”

“Of course.”

033 sighed at 544 and turned his attention downstream towards something he hadn’t taken notice of before; a small, beaten down path leading away from the clearing and into the forest.

He nodded to the other three, “Take a look downstream; we’ll probably be traveling down there tonight.”

609 and 544 peered down the path, 609 craning his neck in order to do so. 617 on the other hand, scuttled over to the path’s entrance, gave 033 a smirk, and disappeared from view as he headed onto the trail.

033 resisted the urge to sigh again and waited, not commenting on 609 and 544 instantly milling off to look further upstream. These three were extremely different from him, and the realization he barely had any idea of how to work with them was definitely setting in. While they were nice and eager to learn, they were also incredibly mischievous-or at least 617 was. While 609 and 544 were calmer, they were more than happy to join 617 in causing trouble.

He was used to this behavior when it came from Jumba and Hamsterviel…unfortunately, but not from experiments who could burn him alive or smash him to a pulp if they wanted to-the 0 and 1 series-including himself-were tame in comparison to these three.

He kept an eye on the two still in sight as he felt 617 suddenly barrel into him from behind, causing him to take a step forward to balance himself.

“Okay I’ve seen everything now-I wanna go back inside.”

“Alright, I’ve had enough as well. The whole clearing’s visible anyways.”

033 waved 544 and 609 over, though not before 609 stooped down, grabbed several leaves out of a puddle, and began to chew on them on the way back. 033 narrowed his eyes; whatever 609’s intention was with…that, it was most likely to irritate him once again.

That or 609 wanted to do his own version of 544’s venture with the Earth animal.

In which case, that would be disgusting, but not surprising at this point.

“So, leafboy, when we get inside, you’re taking a shower. I don’t know what kind of bacteria’s on this planet, but I don’t want anyone getting infected from it.” He said as 609 walked up.

The laser experiment gave him a frown before crossing his arms and scrunching up his face. Suddenly, the immediate temperature increased drastically as steam arose from his fur. 033 gasped at the abrupt change as 544 cringed, “What in the-? Stop that! Whatever that is!” 033 snapped. 609 gave a sheepish glance to him, but before he could answer, the temperature was already returning to normal.

033 gave 609 a hard stare, “Whatever you just did, don’t ever do that around 544 or myself again.”

“They’re all dead.”

“Excuse me?”

“They’re all dead.” 609 repeated, picking a stem out of his teeth, “All the bacteria you mentioned. I killed ‘em all by releasing some of my energy.”

033 gazed at him in dismay before putting his head in his hands. This was ridiculous; 609 had no understanding of why releasing such a large concentration of energy was dangerous, 544 and 617 were clearly hellbent on disobeying him from touching animals and running off out of sight, and all three seemed to deliberately misunderstand what was at stake for the sake of using their powers and causing trouble.

This was a mess. He lifted his head up and took a deep breath, “Alright, fine. We’ll get right to training when we get inside, okay?”

“Yeah!”

“But I don’t want any of your crap from now on; you three understand? No more eating things off the ground or touching animals or running off. We’re in a dangerous situation and maybe that’s new for you, but it’s not for me. I don’t want you to worry, but I also don’t want someone to end up in trouble.”

At this, 609 and 617’s ears flattened and all three of their faces fell. 617 immediately countered, “Well, sorry if we were trying to just have fun before going on a literal death mission.” He glared off into a bush as 609 turned a deep magenta, “Fossil.”

“Yeah, thanks. What I said still stands.” 033 said, “We don’t know this planet and we don’t fully understand this situation we’re in, so I want you three to at least not involve me if you’re going to cause problems. I was never used to it and I barely had the time-much less the patience-for it back in my day. If you want, do it to Gantu, but not to me, understand?”

The three experiments nodded, albeit reluctantly.

“Okay; thank you. You can still have fun, but just…try to be more careful alright? And leave me out of it.”

617 sighed as 609 and 544 nodded in agreement, “Fine…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Midday in the ship was quiet, gold morning light in the process of changing to blue afternoon. 033 led the other three to the room over from the one they’d practiced in the prior night.

“Alright, you three sit in front of me; we don’t have much time since the days seem to be short here, so I’ll just be teaching you things that’ll be useful on this specific mission.” 033 said, gesturing to the space in front of him.

The three experiments huddled before 033; maybe it was just him, but they looked much more nervous than he’d expected, especially given how enthusiastic they’d been about training earlier. 609 in particular, who’d ironically looked the most eager to learn, was instead staring at the floor, as if afraid to look at 033.

033 himself felt apprehensive; he hadn’t trained anyone before, the only experiment who’d come close was 221 and maybe 319, but everyone else was either 177, a friend or self-taught, just like him.

He took a deep breath before starting, “Okay, so-did you get any training beforehand? And if so, how much?”

Wrong question. Everyone looked embarrassed, especially 609 and 544.

He tried again.

“Okay-I’ll skip that then; forget what I asked. Instead, how about…What do you three think you’ll be doing to catch 626 tonight?”

This was better; 544 looked up and raised a tentacle in the air. 033 pointed to him as 544 explained, “I’d set up a trap so I could just knock him out with my tentacles.”

“Great; anyone else?”

“Fire.” 617 added, “I don’t think he’s that immune to plasma-most 6-series are, but he’s not me or 609.”

033 looked to 609, who shrank, but spoke up after a moment, “I-I’d do a little of both, but I’m not good with any physical fighting…”

“That’s fine! I’m guessing you’d defend against him with your heat powers then?”

609 nodded, flushing at the mention of the word, “Yup, I’d just do what I did in the clearing.”

“That’s good, the less he’s able to get close, the better.” 033 said, “So, those are all good ideas; they’re very solid. How do you three think you’ll go about them?”

“Well I’d just shoot him until he runs into one of those capture containers just to get away from me, but actually, what about you? What’s your plan?” 617 asked, tilting his head at 033.

033 raised an eyebrow at 617, “Well, I always relied on stealth. I’ll probably drop from a wall or a ceiling and knock him over the head or catapult him into a capture container. It worked many times on my missions, so it’ll most likely work with this one, even if he is powerful.”

“Oh-freezing too,” 609 suddenly added, “I could just freeze him as well.”

544 looked to 609 in bewilderment, “I thought you had heat powers though.”

“Well I do, so I need to recharge and keep my energy up, and that means I absorb heat energy from my surroundings.”

033 stared in amazement, forgetting all about his own strategy, “You realize what that means for us right?”

“…No?”

“It means we can avoid being seen on heat sensors 609, that’s a huge advantage. No one will be able to even know we’re there until last minute.”

“Oh.” 609 said, smiling, “Okay, neat!”

“Alright,” 033 said, “Anyone want to know some things that’ll be useful to these plans you’ve got? 544’ll be easy, but I think you two can benefit from some of the blocking techniques I know.”

617 and 609, the latter now fully psyched back up, gave a resounding “Ih!” as 544 nodded in agreement. 033 smiled, “Great, let’s start then. The first thing I can teach you three is how to block your opponent…”

___________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Earth only had one moon. One crescent moon. That was a little boring-and annoying, because 609 could barely see in front of him and was having to rely on his heat sense to get around. 033 and 617 led the group of experiments, trailing behind Gantu as he led the four to the Earth girl and 626’s home. 617 periodically scuttled ahead, perching on top of tree branches, logs, and the occasional rock to wait for the others to catch up.

“How far away is this place anyways? It feels like we’ve been walking for miles.” 617 complained, lighting up his tail and squinting into the undergrowth, “We left the ship a while ago and we didn’t even eat beforehand.”

“Well Plasmoid, that should tell you we’re actually more than three-quarters of the way there.” Gantu retorted, “And I would be quiet if I were you; 626 can hear at least ten to twenty miles away.”

617 narrowed his eyes, but stepped off the rock he’d been sitting on and fell into stride with 033, who gave him a sympathetic glance.

“Don’t worry; mine could go for up to three Turian days. It’s nothing new.”

_“Three_ of those? Isn’t that like a week everywhere else?”

“Yeah. I was gone a lot.”

609 hung back along with 544, thinking to himself. The training had gone well, he’d learned to block punches and kicks courtesy of 033…even though he’d managed to knock him off his feet a couple times, but he was still up against 626 in bad lighting, Gantu was tight-lipped as ever, and the tension between him and 033 was becoming more and more noticeable by the hour. 033 and Gantu had tried to be careful not to show much about their disagreements to the three after the prior night, but it hadn’t worked, and their dislike for each other was obvious to the entire team.

544 on the other hand, was surprisingly talkative, as 609 suddenly felt a poke on his shoulder as the taller experiment gestured to a smooth, segmented trunk that curved upwards past the treetops, “There’s a ton of these Earth palms around here; I’m wondering if they’ve got anything people eat growing on them, because that’d be even better for me.”

“What are you-oh, right.” 609 said, “Crop thresher and all, cool.”

“Yeah, plus it’s warm here so that’d be good on your end since you deal with heat energy.”

609 nodded despite the growing pit in his stomach, something he could see 544 had as well. His smile and tone were forced, even with his genuine interest in Earth plants, and the conversation quickly died afterwards, both experiments glancing awkwardly into the brush lining the path.

Gantu abruptly stopped at the edge of the trail. “We’re here.” He gestured towards a space in the trees and as the four squinted, they could see the outline of a two-story house with a red roof and a strange, circular structure at the top. 609 could smell a mixture of food and a few of the same metals he’d been used to in the lab. Most of it he didn’t recognize though. That or it was his inability to smell as much as average kicking in again-which it often did. Jumba hadn’t bothered to fix it and he’d been stuck ever since.

Gantu took out a pair of goggles and surveyed the house, but 609 gulped and poked his ankle, “Um…they’re in the very front room of the house.”

Gantu jumped and stared down at him in a mixture of irritation and surprise; he hadn’t even gotten a look inside and yet Heat somehow already had and could even tell where everyone was. “And you know that how…?”

609 shrugged, “I just do, there’s a lot of heat concentrated in the front. I think Jumba’s further inside the house as well because there’s this weird clump in the back and it kind of feels familiar-“

“Okay, Heat, that’s great, please be quiet. And again-how do you know where they are?”

“Well…” 609 thought for a moment, “I can basically sense different amounts of heat energy. It’s not x-ray or heat vision, I just kind of feel it and I know.”

Gantu looked just as shocked as 033 had been, causing 609’s ears to flatten inward in confused annoyance, “What? That’s what it is to me. I don’t know how to explain it.”

“No Heat, that’s good that you can sense where they are; it’s efficient for stealth purposes. Can you sense 626 or any other experiments besides him?”

609 took a quick look over at the house, but shook his head, “Maybe? It seems like there’s someone else in the back with Jumba but I can’t tell.”

“If it is, we’ll be capturing it immediately with 626. Good work.”

609 nodded, giving a nervous smile as Gantu turned back towards the house, “This will have to be fast. Thresher? You’ll be finding a weak point in the wall and tearing it out. I’ll be watching through the roof, I’ve taken it off more times than I can count at this point.”

The four experiments exchanged confused glances before 544 spoke up, “Soooo…do I just walk out or…?“

“All four of you will be finding a way to stand around the weak point to get in. There’s one near the corner of the house you can take advantage of.”

033 clenched his teeth and glowered at Gantu. Never in a million years would he think of doing something so reckless; a plan like that would catch experiments in the blast and could injure them, and he didn’t care about whether these three were 5 and 6 series, they could still be thrown back and incapacitated by the force. But before he could speak, Gantu noticed and turned to stare down at him.

“Do you have anything to say, Hammerface? I’ve dealt with 6 series before and they can handle this. Or do you think otherwise?”

The other three made a quick escape from the growing argument, 609 and 544 causing the bushes to rustle as they jumped out and causing 033 to flinch; that was loud.

Gantu glared at him and pointed towards the house. Hammerface stuck his middle finger up at him before heading out, returning the glare.

“’Kay, sorry about…that back there.” He whispered to the others as he joined them, “Let me feel for weak points first, this has to be precise-not ''fast`. Also, 544, you’ll be crushing the wall in, not outwards.''

They nodded and stood back as he began to feel his way around the wall. This was new wood, he could tell. It probably got destroyed a lot, but even so, he could suddenly feel a small fault-not within it, but inside the surrounding material. A smug smirk quickly formed on 033’s face as he was able to map out the whole wall; it wasn’t the spot was weak, it was that it was the only strong point in a very weak wall. He gestured to 544 and pointed to several spots surrounding the strong point, 544 extending his tentacles to hover over each one he pointed out. 033 gave him a thumbs up and stepped back, taking 609 and 617 by their shoulder and tail respectively.

544 gulped nervously, stood back, and plunged all six tentacles into the wall, crushing it inwards and scrambling in after 033 jumped ahead and on top of the debris.

Whatever the four thought they had been getting into upon breaking in, it certainly wasn’t this scene.

The infamous Earth girl and not one, but a grand total of four 626’s were in the room; three next to her in some kind of bizarre formation sitting around what appeared to be a Plorgnarian and the fourth on the couch staring at them in shock. A flashlight was on the ground beside the group. 033 forced back a laugh; this was just embarrassing... 

The Earth girl on the other hand gave them a horrified look and yelled for the 626 on the couch-apparently she’d named him similar to how Gantu had named them. He-609 guessed-was Stitch, as he jumped down and snarled a warning at them, extending hidden arms, spines, and antenna.

A rumbling noise could be heard as Gantu tore the corner of the roof off.

“Take the trog men. Take _all_ the trogs!”

The four quickly got into formation, cornering the four experiments and the earth girl as the Plorgnarian scrambled backwards into the house. She shot them a scared look-mostly 609’s face, before turning to Gantu. “Your evil experiments can’t beat four Stitches!” She shouted, the four echoing her with a loud, drawn out “Yeeeaaahhhh!”

609 found himself losing focus. Was this how 033 felt earlier in the day? Because if so he suddenly understood the older experiment’s cranky attitude; the scene was one thing, but the long, drawn out “yeah” was ridiculous. He was jolted back to reality when one of the 626s picked up a couch and prepared to throw it.

He blasted. He didn’t care who the 626 was aiming at-it could’ve been any one of them for all he knew, but he had to act fast if the couch wasn’t going to hit.

The couch split in two due to the blast, collapsing on top of the 626 as Gantu picked him up and placed him inside one of the capture containers he’d brought on the trip. 609 breathed a sigh of relief before feeling it dashed right in the next second, turning around to see 033 thrown into the wall by another 626.

Undeterred, 033 gave the 626 a wide grin and jumped down to the opposite floorboard. 609, 544, and 617 watched with wide eyes as he swung his head in the process, catapulting the 626 into another waiting container. None of them had actually seen 033 in action, usually he was nagging or holding himself back, even when training them that day, so the precision of the move stunned them. 033 walked back over to the group, crossing his arms and being unable to hold back a smile at seeing the others’ reactions. His usual technique for disabling enemies still worked years later...

033 suddenly sensed movement out of the corner of his eye and grimaced, pointing to a space behind 544. The taller experiment turned just in time to catch another charging 626 in his tentacles, throwing him back towards the kitchen and dashing after to fight him there. 

609 watched all of this go down in excitement; this was going surprisingly well even with four 626s to deal with; with this done, they could find and rescue everyone else with no problem! He was eager to see the other 6 and 5 series and meet the rest of the 0-

A flash of light shone in his eye, momentarily blinding him. 609 yelped and shielded his face to see the Earth girl gasp and turn the flashlight off him, throwing it to the floor. 

A tension came over the room as both stared at each other uneasily, the girl putting up her hands and 609 tugging at his antenna, averting his eyes. He was aware of everyone watching and could feel both sides bristling, 033 stepping forward and the remaining 626 growling menacingly. He gulped and took a step back, pulling even more at his antenna to try defusing the situation.

Thankfully, they were interrupted by a loud smack coming from the kitchen as 544’s tentacles stretched out to Gantu, dropping a stunned 626 into another container.

“Three down, one to go.” Gantu said, holding up the container.

“Oh no, they’re too weak!” The girl cried out in horror, seeing all but one 626-her friend-now captured by Gantu and the four experiments. 617 jumped to open fire on the final 626, chasing him away from 609 and towards the far end of the room. 609 felt himself relax; the girl’s attention was off him and the tension was gone, the last of the 626’s about to be captured...

617 fired on an overhanging lamp above the 626 and stood back triumphantly, smirking as he watched the 626 taunt him. 033 shook his head and crossed his arms as the lamp fell right on top of the 626, promptly knocking it out.

Gantu chuckled as he picked up the remaining 626, “Just as we practiced.”

033 opened his mouth in disgust at the statement, but looked towards the doorway in alarm. Someone was coming and he knew exactly who it was from the footsteps. 609 and the other two exchanged worried looks before running towards the remains of the wall 544 had crushed in, led by 033 picking his way over the wreckage. 609 began climbing up the wall and was reaching for a solid piece of rubble when the sound of a plasma gun charging up sounded out behind him.

He turned just in time to watch Jumba fire on him, the blast hitting his leg and absorbing in. His initial fear was replaced with amusement, 609 placing his hand over his mouth to hold in a snicker before jumping down and making his way to the other three.

However, as he did so, an anguished cry sounded out behind him, causing him to turn back towards the house. “STITCH!” The girl screamed; 609 could see she was standing near the wreckage of the wall and while he couldn’t make out her face, her shout for 626 said it all.

He suddenly felt a cold hand grip his arm, “Run-get into the bushes, they may try to come after us if I know Jumba.”

609 allowed 033 to drag him into the undergrowth by the arm, still eyeing the house’s occupants...

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

The trip back was silent and for good reason, 609 still in shock from the Earth girl’s scream over losing 626 and the other two noticing how angry 033 was at Gantu. Whatever story they were being told, it was probably completely false and he could smell it. The house wasn’t guarded at all, the Earth girl had been nothing like the skilled manipulator Gantu had made her out to be, to say nothing of him _lying_ about what was apparently a very young child.

And there was the fact that there wasn’t just one 626, there’d been four, and one clearly was the leader. On top of that, their attacks had been too weak to even be that of a 3 series, much less a 6 or 5 like the other three. As 609 had mentioned, someone else had been inside the house and from the looks of it, it was a cloning experiment of some kind. Either 344, or someone else from a later series.

Gantu left them in the main part of the ship, taking the four 626s further in. 033 glowered after him, turning back towards the others to check up on them.

609 was in bad shape; he could tell. The orange experiment was visibly shaken, his small eyes bulging as he stared around the ship. 617 and 544 weren’t much better, 617 was trying to press himself to 609 (and being ignored) and 544 kept glancing apprehensively at the room Gantu had disappeared to.

“Hey, 609?.” 033 tried with him first, “It’s going to be alright. We’ll get to the bottom of this and get out of here, okay?”

“S-she…I. That yell-“

“I know; I heard it too.”

033 could see tears forming in 609’s eyes as his voice broke, “I…I think we did something wrong…”

“No, no we didn’t.” 617 urged, “…Well, we did, but it’s not our fault-we didn’t have all the information. Gantu’s not telling us everything and that’s pretty apparent now. No one calls after someone like that if they’re actually evil.”

“But that’s why...”

“We know 609. Thankfully for us we have a shuttle we can all squeeze into to get out of here. …And get the 626s out, they’re clearly not as much of a threat as he made them out to be. Right 033?” 617 asked, turning expectedly to the older experiment, “I mean-we have to at least get out of here.”

“We do. We can also set the 626’s free…from a safe distance of course, but it’s possible.”

609 nodded, wiping his eyes, “So how do we get out-“

He was interrupted by Gantu returning to the room, smirking at the four, “You can come into the room now, I have a surprise planned for our dinner.”

Everyone exchanged glances, but filed into the room, 609 quickly smoothing the fur on his face down to hide a couple tears that had managed to escape during his breakdown. While the knowledge that they could easily leave was comforting, it was now apparent they were on the wrong side-or some wrong side, he didn’t know what would qualify as one, but, to him, separating friends-since that was exactly what he could tell from the Earth girl and 626-was wrong regardless of the situation. He gulped as he walked into the room and into line with the others, averting his eyes from the four 626s slouched inside the same capture containers that’d held them the prior night.

“Well done men. This is only the beginning.” Gantu said, peering down at the four 626s, “Now that the trog-er-trogs have been defeated, we will capture every experiment on this planet.”

He took out a bell and rang it in the direction of the elevator. 033 raised his eyebrow as Gantu waited a moment, then cleared his throat in annoyance. “I rang the bell!” He called out.

“You can forget it, I’m not coming out!” 625’s voice rang out from the upper level. 033 turned and glared at Gantu in disgust. More of this? They’d woken up to him tormenting 625 and now they would be ending yet another night with this same behavior? This was disgraceful, a former captain of the Galactic Federation acting like a literal child towards someone who only came up to his ankle.

“Fine!” Gantu snapped, “Plasmoid…?” He said, turning towards the four experiments expectantly.

Plasmoid flattened his antennae, but lit up his tail as he turned towards the elevator. It opened to reveal…625 in a butler outfit.

Without any bandages.

“Alright alright! Happy now?” He asked indignantly, crossing his arms and turning his head to the side. The four stared at him in a mixture of confusion and fury-033 in particular didn’t know what to do at the sight, especially seeing that 625 had removed all his bandages in order to fit himself into the outfit to begin with.

“I want you to make a victory feast for my brave warriors.” Gantu said, gesturing to the experiments.

625 sighed and slumped over, “…’Kay, victory feast. With or without crusts?”

“With.”

625 nodded and halfheartedly pressed the button on the inside of the elevator, traveling down to the lower level.

The four experiments watched him go before 033 immediately whipped around to face Gantu in a rage, ”I can see why you were let go from the Federation, beached whale. I wonder what else you lie about considering the scream we all heard from the Earth girl when we were taking them away. Maybe something having to do with us working for you? Judging from how you just talked about us?”

“Maybe you ought to shut up for once, 033.” Gantu snapped, narrowing his eyes at the 0-series, “I activated the four of you to catch experiments, not start running your mouths at me like 625. Or if you want to keep going, I can make sure it escalates to its logical conclusion.”

033 watched as Gantu’s hand moved to his blaster, “You wouldn’t.”

“Push me enough and I will. I have before many times over.”

“And what do you mean by that?” 033 hissed as the other three began to shrink away in fear, “Does it have anything to do with how that _little girl_ screamed for those four when we were leaving with them? The same little girl you’ve obviously LIED about?!”

“Oh, so you don’t think catching everyone is imperative then?”

“Not when I’m clearly being manipulated into harming innocent people!”

The four 626s surveyed the growing argument in shocked silence, the leader turning to 609 and the others in bewilderment. He’d never seen an experiment express that level of care towards others-most of them were nice, but seemed out for themselves in the end, even older ones. The other three looked terrified and from the looks of it, a fight like this had been imminent. This was worse than Nani and Lilo’s arguments by a long shot.

At this point, 033 was actually advancing towards Gantu, now seeming much more unstable to the captain than usual, “You can’t do this!” He shouted, his voice starting to tremble in the still air of the ship, “I’ve gone after people before, you don’t know what that’ll do-I have nightmares-I have a body count! You’re not putting them through this! I won’t let you-”

“Actually, I do, you utter _failure_ of a 0-series. But at least I realize you need to make sacrifices for the greater good.”

“You can take “the greater good” and shove it in your ass! Those are my fellow experiments you’re talking about!”

At this, Gantu drew the plasma pistol, aiming at 033. “Hammerface, stand down. I will tell you everything, I swear-but you need to calm down to get this information.”

“Oh! Blackmail! Neat!” 033 stood back and held his arms out, facing Gantu’s plasma pistol, “…Well? What are you waiting for?” He asked, appearing almost giddy at seeing Gantu’s anger turn to confusion, then unease, “Take the shot since you’re brave enough to get it out…”

Gantu eyed Hammerface uncomfortably before glancing at a horrified Heat, Thresher, and Plasmoid, the former of which had started to silently cry and shiver, this had escalated to a dangerous level and if there was one thing he hadn’t expected, it was for Hammerface to actually take him up on his bluff. 13 years of being around Jumba and Hamsterviel had done a lot more to warp his psyche than anything Hamsterviel had originally implied. He hated to admit it, but he’d have to swallow his pride and defuse this-and fast.

Keeping his eyes on Hammerface, he carefully placed the plasma pistol back in his holster and put his hands up, watching the lab veteran give an evil snarl and turn away, heading back towards the other three.

“We settle this tomorrow.” He said, crossing his arms and glaring at Hammerface.

“Oh.” The experiment said, twisting his head around far more than what was supposed to be feasible for the norm and giving him a full view of a wide, serrated grin, _“I’m sure we will.”_

Gantu fought the urge to shudder. He’d read up on Hammerface’s abilities, twisting his head at almost 270 degrees was certainly a power, but seeing-not to mention hearing- it in action was sickening. What was worse was that he knew Hammerface had done it on purpose if the expression was anything to go by.

He sighed, “Look. I owe you a more proper explanation, I can see that. But I can assure you that this is all a misunderstanding. There are some things I didn’t explain well, and I admit that. I owe you four a proper explanation and you shall receive it after your victory feast.”

“Whatever.” Plasmoid said quietly as Hammerface let out a cynical snort. “Tell us if you want tomorrow, whatever it takes.”

Gantu nodded and walked over to the far side of the room, carrying out a foldable table and setting it on the ground of the ship, “We’re going to wait here until 625 comes back with the feast. I promise I’ll explain more, but for now, I’ll need you to work with me.”

The experiments begrudgingly walked over to the table, 609 glancing nervously at the four 626s as he tried to calm himself back down. The four Stitches stood in total shock at the fight. Despite how disoriented Stitch was from the hit to his head and 344’s duplication, he couldn’t help but think of Angel. Was this how she’d been convinced to go after him and the ohana? Because these four had clearly been told something far different than the reality. He couldn’t help but feel terrible for them, having to be in such a crazy environment. It didn’t change anything they’d done, but they clearly didn’t have all the information…

Also, “Hammerface” twisting his head like that wasn’t something he’d be forgetting anytime soon.

The wait was small, as 625 entered only a few minutes later carrying several plates filled with sandwiches and setting them on the table. 617 wrinkled his nose and 609 recoiled at the sight of something pink in between the bread slices. It stunk, whatever it was, and although 609 couldn’t really smell it, he could definitely taste something overly sweet in the air. 033 scowled as Gantu immediately grabbed a sandwich and took a bite-right before spitting it on the floor and throwing it on 625’s head with enough force to knock him off his feet. “These are horrible!”

“ _Sorry_ , we’re out of mayo-I used yogurt.” 625 said, taking the sandwich and swallowing it whole.

“This is unacceptable-“

Gantu was interrupted by a ring of the ship’s doorbell. 625 instantly took the opportunity, “Oops, gotta get that!” He said, rushing out of the room.

“Delivery for Captain Gantu!” A high, nasally voice called out as whoever it was entered the ship. 033 was instantly suspicious; this was clearly some kind of trap-they’d just stolen 626 and now an unannounced visitor was coming with a delivery? Something was wrong.

Gantu on the other hand, didn’t think so, calling for the visitors to be let in. 033’s suspicions were instantly confirmed as the Plorgnarian from before entered the ship-or rather, three of them, all badly disguised and holding something in front of their faces to prevent Gantu from noticing anything was off.

“Congratulations Captain Gantu!”

“From an admirer!”

“A little bouquet for Ganto!”

This was too much, this was clearly the same Plorgnarian from earlier being used as a distraction. “What the hell?” 617 mouthed to 033 as 609 put his hands to his mouth to conceal cynical hysterics, “What the fuck is this?”

“This is too much-obviously someone appreciates superior leadership!” Gantu exclaimed in astonishment.

033 didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at that.

609 suddenly heard a low, whispered voice behind him, “Come on! Which one of you is Stitch?”

His face fell. He felt some relief at knowing the Earth girl had come to get her friend back, even though it’d probably mean he’d be beaten up or even captured soon. He wished he were home at the lab in his bed-there were string lights there and he’d turn them on when he was going to bed. He could use those right now, they were a good energy source when he was drained…

Gantu on the other hand was completely oblivious to everyone’s distress and the terrible disguises of the Plorgnarians as he took a bouquet of flowers, ”Come on guys, which one of you sent these?” He asked before happening to glance at the people delivering the gifts in the first place...and finally realizing something was off.

“I know you…” He said, pointing to the nearest alien before glaring at the others, “I know ALL of you! You’re all Pleakley! We’re being invaded men!”

033 narrowed his eyes in exasperation as the four reluctantly jumped down and surrounded the three Plorgnarians, this time making sure to stay away from the Earth girl and whoever else was with her behind the balloon bunch she was using to disguise herself.

“Oh no! We gotta hurry!” The Earth girl cried out as Gantu grabbed the bunch and tossed it to the side, “Well, what have we here?” He said as 609 heard a frightened mewl from behind him. Turning around for a second, he could see a yellow experiment held fast in Gantu’s hand. He turned back to the ground in dread. There was no way he could just wait until the following day, this experiment clearly wasn’t very dangerous from how they were designed and they were obviously scared for their life…

…That was, until he heard another shout from behind him. “Don’t you dare touch him! He doesn’t wanna make copies of all your evil experiments!”

At this, 609 saw 033 freeze, his eyes widening as 617 and 544 shot him concerned glances. It was obvious he knew something about this experiment. Perhaps a hidden power of some kind…? Either way, they were probably in trouble from how he was acting…

“Making copies of my army…that’s an inspired idea! I’ll make a hundred of each of them-not even Hamsterviel will be powerful enough to stop me.”

033 looked up in horror as Gantu marched over to them, a wide smirk on his face-he was right, this was 344, the failed cloning experiment. Failed for a good reason too-as his clones were divided in strength based on how many were created. This was why there were four 626s and three “Pleakleys”-or whoever the Plorgnarian was, and if they were that weak, there was no telling what making 100 of each of them would do…

609 watched Gantu’s enthusiasm in scared confusion. A cloning experiment? Weren’t those hard to make? And didn’t most fail anyways? Why would Gantu want to use one on them?

He didn’t get the chance to act as Gantu positioned the experiment over 617. “Make me a hundred Plasmoids!” He commanded as a blue beam shot out of the experiment’s uncurled antenna, enveloping the green experiment. 033 took a step forward and reached an arm out beforehand, but was too late, his eyes widening in horror as 617 began to divide out in all different directions. 609 watched in morbid fascination before hearing a voice above him.

“Make a hundred Heats!” Gantu’s voice shouted as the same blue beam enveloped his vision. 609 started as his face pulled into a grimace-his energy! All of it! It was leaving! He swayed and saw a whirl between himself dividing outwards, 033’s horrified face, and a flicker of brilliant green before everything went dark...


	3. Zero

**Chapter 3: Zero**

_He was being followed..._

_Heat rushed through the forest, tripping over roots and hitting the top of his head on the low hanging branches. Deep down, he understood that he couldn’t afford to stop even with the growing pain in his forehead, green flashes obscuring his vision. He tripped again, falling into the gutter of a street. Filthy water splashed on him as he gagged at the smell; faint, yet horrible. Decomposing._

_None of these buildings registered to him, but he felt like he’d seen them before._

_But now he was out in the open. He had to run._

_The street kept changing directions on him. First he was running towards an intersection, but then it’d disappear and he was making his way down to a store. Store, dead end, beach, forest, and then suddenly bush and then into the bush and then-  
He crashed facefirst into glass, feeling pain reignite in his head at the impact. He stumbled away, his ears ringing._

_When he regained focus, he was surrounded by mirrors. He could tell because they reflected everything._

_…Everything except him._

_He froze as a creak sounded behind him and slowly turned around to see he was suddenly visible in all the mirrors…too visible perhaps. In fact, was it just him, or was his image getting bigger? Closer?_

_He didn’t have any time to react; hands grabbed him from every direction imaginable as more green sparks flashed in his vision._

_Everything went dark._

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

The first sensation 609 felt when he awoke was the absence of most...if not all of his energy. He could hear voices above him, but they were faint and sounded as though they were underwater. Something soft yet heavy was covering him.

He was too tired to open his eyes. What happened? Why was he so drained? Where was everyone else? And how long had he been out?

And what was that nightmare he’d had? Those green flashes...why...had it felt so real?

The voices became a bit clearer and he could sense a large patch of warmth ahead of him. Either a finger or a thumb was pressed to his chest, clearly feeling for a heartbeat. “Is still being there,” A muffled, familiar voice said, “Seems faster too, he may be waking up because he hasn’t moved since he placed him here.”

Who was this? It was so familiar, but he was so exhausted he couldn’t piece together the owner...

Two fingers were placed to his face, opening an eye as a light was shone on it. 609’s sight adjusted to a blurry view of Jumba with several other faces around him. He let out a small whimper as the light clicked off.

“Is being up, just tired as expected. It’s alright 609-not to worry, you are being safe here so you can recover from your energy drainage.” Jumba explained as he took his hand away from 609’s face.

609 placed his hand to his eye in annoyance and opened the other, blinking owlishly at the sight of Jumba, 626, the Earth girl, the cloning experiment, and Gantu in the background all surrounding him. He was inside an unfamiliar area of the ship and there were several heavy blankets and sweaters on top of him. He gazed at them flatly, too drowsy to ask for an explanation.

The Earth girl peered at him in worry before turning to Jumba, “Are you sure he’s gonna be okay? It kind of-it just looks like how Stitch did when…you know…”

“There is being chance of that happening Little Girl, but so far, it hasn’t and 609 has woken up, so we should be in the clear.” Jumba said, “609 will take a bit to regain all his energy, and he’s lost a lot given someone deciding to divide him by 100.”

“For the last time, I was tricked into it-“

“Why don’t you shut your mouth?” 033’s cold voice sounded out, “You’re the reason he’s like this in the first place.”

“Always having a kind word, don’t you, 033?” Jumba asked in annoyance, “I regret merging you first given you instantly panicked and called me a word I will not repeat in Earth English because Little Girl is only being eight years old.”

“Yeah, yeah I will because it’s also partially your fault we’re in this mess at all.”

“Whatever you say 033…” Jumba said, shaking his head before turning to 609, “Here, let me be turning up the heating pad on top of you, that’ll help be getting you better.”

609 felt a small boost of energy as the pad was warmed up further. A heating pad? Forget everything else, that alone would easily work; he carefully sat up and reached for it, taking it in his hands and hugging it to his chest as he felt a surge of energy return to him.

“Aha! See? Is being fine; 609 is designed to go for the largest heat source in room. He’ll be back to full energy in no time.” Jumba reassured the Earth girl and 626 as he gave 609 a quick pat on the head, “But on the other hand, about these four...I would like you-“He pointed to 609 and the other three, who were standing further away from the gathering, “-You four-to come back with us, and I don’t want fighting with me about time in the old lab, 033.”

033 narrowed his eyes, “No. I want an-“

“And Jumba said no, 033. No more. That’s enough.” Jumba asserted to the suspicious experiment, “A lot has happened since you’ve been deactivated, I can promise you I’m not who I was in the lab. And at our house with ugly ex-wife.”

033 huffed and squinted at Jumba in indignation, still unconvinced. He couldn’t tell whether it was Jumba’s sincerity (a rarity towards his deactivation) or his own stubbornness, but he was right when it came down to it. They would have to go with them-even though he didn’t care for Jumba, he did want the other three to get the help they needed after this run-in with 344.

“033.”

“Fine. But I want an explanation for you “changing”.”

“Good. We can be talking about that at a later time. A lot has improved since the old lab, I assure you.”

“Actually, I would beg to differ.” A new, raspy voice said as a screen lit up behind 033, who whirled around in horror at the person filling it, “You!”

“Yes 033, it is I, the generous person who so generously funded you and almost everyone here!” Hamsterviel said, a nasty smirk on his face as he hovered over the group. 626 growled and stepped in front of 609 as if to shield him. Whether 609 noticed or not, it wasn’t clear, but 033 snarled and jumped in front of 544 and 617, extending his claws at the sight of Jumba’s former partner.

Hamsterviel scoffed at 033 and 626, “There’s no need for that, all I can say is that the lack of attention to anything remotely resembling care for 609 here is incredible-everyone knows you don’t clone biomatter unless you’re sure it’ll be successful, so I’m shocked Jumba let this happen, especially to someone as expensive as 609!”

Jumba narrowed all four eyes at Hamsterviel; this was nothing new, going after younger people and newer experiments because it was easier for him to take advantage of them. To make matters worse, he was right-or at least had a point. There was a nugget of truth to him simply allowing his experiments to be divided, to say nothing of what could’ve happened to Lilo had she managed to divide herself like she’d originally planned.

“And 609 is being merged again. Given you’ve decided to call up, I assume you have no intention of letting him come with us for medical care.”

“Oh no, of course not-I have my own medical technology! Prison is surprisingly good with these things. Besides, after this show of negligence, I would never allow 609 to go with the likes of you. I can’t risk 43 million of your filthy Earth currency after all.”

“Liar.” 033 spat, “You want us to stay so you can live out your stupid fantasies about usurping the Grand Councilwoman, you pile of trash. Everyone’s coming with Jumba-even if I don’t trust him myself.”.

“Yeah. I remember one call in from you and that was enough for me.” 617 said flatly, “I’m not staying with literal ear ra-“

“I think we get the point…” 544 cut in, covering 617’s mouth with two tentacles, “You’re not saying that in front of Lilo.”

“Rat-thrown-in-a-blender voice aside, call me crazy since I know that’s your favorite thing to do with me, but I really don’t think 609 would want to be around you.” 033 said, walking over to 609, “How are you? Better or…?”

609 hugged the heating pad so hard it was in danger of bursting and shorting out. He shook his head in confusion, “Wh...what’s going on and-and who is this?” He asked, glancing up at Hamsterviel.

“That is…not someone you need to know about because he’s not going to be a part of our lives for long.” 033 said, glaring at Hamsterviel. We’re going back with Jumba, there’s plenty more heating pads over there, okay? Right now you need to get up.”

“But-“

“Yes 609; “But” is a good thing to say when you’re still recovering and someone wants to force you to move. 033, I’m shocked; I thought you cared about other experiments!” Hamsterviel exclaimed in mock sympathy, “If you did so, you would have 609 stay until he was well enough to leave!”

“Which means he’ll never leave, and neither will we. You know that.”

“But…” 033 heard 609’s voice from his side, “he’s right.”

“609, don’t listen to him. He takes whatever small bit of truth there is and twists it to suit him. Going with Jumba half-drained is better than staying with him, believe me.”

609 gulped and looked down at the heating pad. He didn’t know this person. He had only heard of Hamsterviel in passing, so he couldn’t offer anything else, and maybe it was best to just say nothing. Lilo went to put a hand on his shoulder, but was stopped by Jumba, “Not to be touching, Little Girl. He’s still recharging. May end up absorbing your energy.”

033 narrowed his eyes at Jumba; he was right, but to deny 609 touch revealed they were effectively stuck until he fully recharged, and he didn’t know how long that would be.

Hamsterviel on the other hand, did, judging from his smirk quickly growing into an evil grin as he placed his hands on his hips. “My my, that’s going to take a full day; 609 will need to stay until then at the very least! And while we’re on the subject…” He turned his attention to Lilo and Stitch, “What makes the two of you-inexperienced children full of inexperience-think you can simply take my experiments after you nearly kill them? After this, I wouldn’t trust you with an Earth insect, let alone my powerful experiments who all have different health concerns to attend to.”

“Hey, they didn’t try to do any of that...” 609 interjected. He was still confused and drained, but he could sense there was something very off about Hamsterviel’s sudden focus on the two after they’d obviously merged him back into one and wanted to help him and the other three.

“And how do you know that?” Hamsterviel said, not bothering to shift his focus away, “How do you know they didn’t try 609? Maybe you should be asking them your questions.”

“No, I just....I don’t like the way you’re focusing on them...”

“Then you are an idiot, 609. I would never allow something as utterly evil as what these two did happen to you. Once again, ask them...”

“No!”

609 stared at Hamsterviel in horror, feeling his eyes begin to sting. It wasn’t that he called him such, it was that it was quite clear he didn’t actually care about him. It seemed instead like he just wanted to use him to get at Lilo and Stitch, who at this point, were both backing away from him, their eyes wide in fear. Hamsterviel followed them on his monitor, but was stopped by Jumba, who put out a hand to halt him.

“Leave them alone.”

Hamsterviel snorted, “Of course! Just keep coddling them-I on the other hand, will tell them exactly what they need to hear-“

“Shut up!” 033’s enraged scream rang out through the still air of the ship. Jumba turned to see he was holding a piece of scrap metal above his head, ready to throw it at Hamsterviel’s image on the screen, “Get away from them! You always do this, you-you evil piece of-!”

“-And what were you just about to say 033-?“

Hamsterviel didn’t get the chance to finish; Jumba took his chance, grabbing and twisting the monitor as 033 roared and threw the metal scrap directly into its center. It slumped and retreated back to the wall, sparks shooting from its now malfunctioning screen. He turned to Jumba, “We-I-“

The sound of another monitor booting up from the other room caught 033’s attention. He started at the noise, then looked back to Jumba.

“Take them,” He pointed to 544, 609, and 617, “Take them and get out. Just leave.”

“What? Why only you?” 617 asked, “We’re not babies, you freakin’ fossil, we’re just 20 years behind you.”

033 shot 617 an angry look, causing the scorpion experiment to further protest, “Look 033, we’re not staying here, I’ll just give 609 more energy!”

Jumba flinched at the idea, “617, is being nice of you to offer help, but 609 needs to regain energy slowly, not have it blasted into him.” He stood and thought to himself, wondering how in this galaxy the four could come back at this point. 033, or “Hammerface” now, was too nervous to want to leave without the other three-doing so would only worsen that anxiety, 609 (Heat), was still recovering from his energy loss and couldn’t exactly be moved out just yet, 617 (Plasmoid) was intensely volatile and acting…strangely animated for someone who’d just been merged back into one from 344’s duplication, and 544 (Thresher) was moving slower than he should, even seeming to have a slight limp to his walk. There was really no way to move all four, and splitting them up would only stress out 033…as much as he was afraid to admit it, the four had no practical way of coming with them. The opportunity was now, not anytime in the future, but they were woefully unprepared to be moved out of the ship.

That damned household programming. He should’ve removed it when he had the chance...

033 seemed to realize the same as his antenna drooped and he looked around at the three in worry; 609 still hugging his heating pad, 544 fearfully gripping 617, and 617 himself narrowing his eyes in determination at him-as if to reinforce his demand that 033 come with them.

Jumba turned and glared furiously at Gantu, “It seems you’ve won this time, but it is being the last. If you use any of my experiments for your-or Hamsterviel’s-gain, any idiotic revenging-plots, I will come over here myself and personally make sure you never do it again.”

He placed a hand on Lilo and Stitch’s shoulders to guide them away, but Lilo wasn’t having it. 

“No! There’s gotta be a way to get them to come; can’t we just carry Heat in one of the sweaters? Or how about Plasmoid just carries him? We can think of something right?! I...I just...” She hung her head as her voice cracked, “I’m really sorry...this is all my fault…”

“No. It’s not your fault. Lilo right?” 033 asked, looking over to the two, “You did what you had to do. There’s no easy way out of a situation like this, and it’s Gantu’s for using us to begin with.”

“Yeah, I think you’re really nice actually.” 544 said, “We got told you were evil, but you came all the way back for Stitch. You’re not bad. It’s just...we ended up on the wrong side. That’s all.”

Lilo only began to cry at Thresher’s words. Him and Hammerface were right, but it still hurt; there really was no way to bring them all back without splitting them up and probably not being able to get the remaining experiments back, and from what she heard about Hammerface, doing so could really hurt him thanks to Jumba not removing a certain part of his programming. She felt responsible even with their assurances she’d only done what she could.

“I…” 617 searched the ground as if to try to find something to cheer Lilo up, “Hey! You think we’re just going to let blubberbutt over here control us after this? We’re getting out even if we can’t do it right now-we’ll figure something out; he’s a moron-I’m sure it’ll be easy!”

609 weakly held up a finger, still holding onto the heating pad as he drew Lilo and Stitch’s attention, “I can just burn us out anyways when I’m better you know…” 

“I...I just didn’t know what to do and…”

“Lilo, please, it’s okay. You did the best you could, it’s just...some people just aren’t very nice, I guess.” Hammerface said, putting a hand on Lilo’s shoulder and glaring back to Gantu, who seemed to shrink into himself at the look, “This wasn’t your fault, it’s his for being petty and incompetent. But it’s best to just listen to Jumba right now. We’re powerful enough to just walk out, the only person really standing between us and doing so is 625 and he’s...well he doesn’t seem to like fighting too much.”

“You too.” He added, turning to Stitch as he sensed he was trying to protest. Stitch’s ears fell as he nodded, “But naga-meega saw you all fighting with him. Meega want you coming-you’re cousins; meega ohana…”

“Ohana?” 

“It-it means family. It’s a saying my dad left behind and I’ve been trying to use it-like really use it but…” Lilo wiped her eyes and sniffed, “I don’t think I’m doing a good job…”

“...I’m sorry, other experiments are here too?” Hammerface’s voice turned anxious and he paused before calming himself, “Look-ignore that, what you’re doing is a big responsibility for someone your age-and his. You’re about 3 right?” He asked Stitch, who nodded, “Yeah-three and just turned eight, it’s more on the adults here, not you two. And this...creep shouldn’t be hunting us in the first place.” He ended in disgust towards Gantu; trying to tell him that this girl was a danger-she wasn’t, she was just a little girl. A little girl, who-from the looks of it-had bitten off way more than both her and her experiment friend could chew with trying to rehabilitate every prior creation. Such a feat was sadly harder than it should’ve been with someone else attempting to give them to Hamsterviel…

Lilo could only muster a nod as 344 ruffled her hair with his antenna, “We even just lost one before you guys…”

“Ih…” Stitch added, “Meega really liked her too so…”

“Oh...well, now that we know about what Gantu’s really about it’s not like we’re going to just sit in containers all day. 617’s right, we can just get out any time we want, even with everyone else.” 609 said, “I can just burn down the ship and get everyone out no problem once I’m charged enough.”

“Gaba? Why do you like burning things so much? Isa funny.”

“I dunno, why do you like ripping stuff apart? That’s funny too especially when you don’t put it back together.” 609 retorted to Stitch. His voice sounded stronger than before, indicating he was recharging fast, “But everyone else...maybe we should stay here, see what’s actually going on and all.”

At this, Gantu seemed to get uncomfortable, straightening up and giving a firm “No” to the heat experiment, who simply shrugged and lit up the organ on his forehead, firing off a small blast that left a red hot dent in the wall next to the window of the room. 

“Actually, Heat-or 609’s right. If you lied about Lilo and Stitch, and you lied about everyone else being here, then maybe we should stay and find out what you’re really up to. You’re not a threat anyways, we could walk right out if we wanted to like 033 said.” 617 said, not bothering to look at Gantu, “I think we’ll be okay...even if we’ve gotta deal with ratface now.”

“..You’re sure about this?” Lilo asked hesitantly, “Once we lose experiments it’s really hard for us to follow you and get you back…”

“I don’t think that’ll be for long then. It’s the least we can do after this, plus...no offense, but I get the impression that you may need some extra help.” 033 said, raising an eyebrow at Jumba. “We can’t leave today, but maybe some other time, we’ll be able to-and with everyone else who’s ended up here as well.”

“Okay…” Lilo wiped another tear out of her eye as she faced the four experiments, “I-I’ll try to make sure I get every experiment and-and we’ll get you out, we promise.”

“And we’ll mess up all of his attempts when we can too. It’ll be easy to pull off.” 544 added, “Don’t worry, okay?”

“Okay…”

Stitch echoed Lilo, starting to sniffle himself. He’d been witness to the fight right before he’d been rescued, to have the four end up still staying with Gantu and Hamsterviel after all this was, well...depressing…

“Right, you better go. We’ll find out what’s really going on here, okay? Everything’s going to be alright.” Hammerface said, only to be interrupted via a sudden hug from Lilo, “It’s gonna be okay.” He echoed as Stitch joined in, “You did your best...”

“Alright, Little Girl, 626, we best be going. Bigger Girl is coming back soon and she’ll be wondering where we are.” Jumba coaxed the two towards the elevator leading to the ship’s entrance, followed by 344, “033, your old programming is being intact, so for your final lab duty before I can be removing it? You’ll be making sure that Big Dummy over there stays away from these three.”

As if on cue, Hammerface stiffened before nodding, “He won’t come near them.”

Lilo, Stitch, Heat, Thresher, and Plasmoid looked to Hammerface in confusion upon hearing his voice; it sounded robotic, far removed from the calm, comforting or even furious tones he’d shown prior. “Um...033?” Heat asked; he reached out a hand but Hammerface quickly placed his behind his back. 

“It’s nothing; don’t worry about it.”

“Right. Do not be going overboard 033.”

With that, Jumba left, Lilo, Stitch, and 344 trailing behind him. Lilo however, stopped before the elevator and looked back at them.

“Hang in there; we’ll come back and get you out, okay Hammerface? And Heat, Thresher, and Plasmoid-all of you. But…” She paused for a moment, “If you find them, could you tell Amnesio and Hunkahunka we’re trying?”

“Sure; I think I have an idea of who you’re referring to from the names. Now go; we’ll be okay.”

Lilo nodded and offered a small smile and a wave before exiting after the others, leaving the four alone with Gantu.

Hammerface-or 033, he didn’t even know anymore-looked around at the other three. Now that the action was over, they looked utterly exhausted; Thresher’s eyestalks were drooping, Plasmoid was yawning and Heat, well...he couldn’t tell if Heat was even awake-he’d faceplanted into the heating pad almost instantly after Lilo was out of sight and didn’t seem to be aware of anything around him. He sighed; it’d been a long day-a long couple of days to be exact, and he himself was feeling drained. Ignoring a stammering Gantu, who quickly retreated into the other room with a simple glare from him, Hammerface walked over to the wall, unplugging and winding up the cord for the heating pad. “Okay,” He grunted, lifting up a dozing Heat and placing him over his shoulder, “top level, now; we need to rest after what we’ve gone through.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The top level was warm, but almost immediately began to drop in temperature as the four walked into the room. Hammerface himself was beginning to shiver from Heat draped over his arm as Thresher and Plasmoid flopped down on their makeshift beds he’d made several nights ago, too exhausted to care about any dust or debris that had settled on them in their absence. He set Heat down in between the two and placed a blanket over him; by the time he did so, the other two had already passed out cold. 

Hammerface stood back and looked at the three before taking the blanket from what had once been his bed and walking over to the one-man shuttle; it’d make a good place to guard...wait, guard? What was he thinking? He was as tired as they were, wasn’t he? But, he had to carry out his programming and that meant...watching them…

He’d barely sat down when he slumped over and into the ship’s wheel, feeling exhaustion set in...they’d surely be fine, right? Just...a few hours was all he needed...


	4. Settling Dust

**Chapter Four: Settling Dust**

Hammerface’s sleep was interrupted by something. It felt like a tap on his arm, and it itched. He was aware of it only for a moment however, immediately starting to fall back asleep.

Another jab. Harder this time.

Hammerface (he supposed he’d be calling himself this now-Lilo using the name was different from how Gantu had done so) growled tiredly and pulled his blanket over his head as much as possible. Who’d be doing this at this time? From what he could tell through his closed eyelids, it was late at night on the ship; the light filtering through his eyes was unnatural and harsh, turning his vision a bloody pink. 

An exasperated sigh followed the failure of whoever it was to wake him before Hammerface heard a VERY familiar beeping noise directly in front of him. His eyes shot open at both said noise and the groggy complaints of the other three-or two; Heat wasn’t among them.

“...032?”

His immediate predecessor nodded and craned his neck to look up at him as Hammerface pulled down the blanket. 032 hadn’t changed too much since the last time he’d seen him, but he did seem somehow thinner, his face pulled back in fear as he rapidly signed to Hammerface. 

“What the HELL are you doing here?” 

Hammerface felt the blood drain from his face as he watched 032 sign that. The lies. The cloning. Why they’d ended up staying at all…

He sat up and stretched his now aching back, signing, “We were caught as pods and lied to. We’re here since we couldn’t all go with Lilo and the others.”

032 watched, his ears drooping as he glanced at the other three. “Oh god, you too? All of you? And the other three are...they really shouldn’t be here. You know how Hamsterviel sees powerful experiments like them. The heat one’s passed out cold as well-what happened to make you stay?”

Hammerface sighed, “344. We were cloned and…” 

He couldn’t finish; he put his head in his hands. He’d been the last cloned and by then, it was too late. He’d had no time to act, but it didn’t stop him from thinking back to his and Gantu’s fight shortly before they were infiltrated. He wondered; was he the cause? Had he had a hand in this in some way? Because it felt like it…

He didn’t feel 032 trying to get him to look at him, and took his hands away to see 032 with his hand over his mouth in horror at the incident’s description. The small orange experiment looked over the others in worry, “I...I’m so sorry. I can’t really say anything, but…”

“...They’re okay right?” He asked, finishing with a pointed finger at a perplexed Plasmoid and Thresher, who were watching their exchange with interest after being awoken by 032’s beeping prior. Hammerface gave Thresher an exasperated glance as he could see the purple experiment was trying-not so subtly-to wake Heat, who was still sleeping in between him and Plasmoid.

“They seem fine, Heat-the one still asleep-he had his energy drained and...I don’t know what that really means. I hope it won’t lead to anything we’ll have trouble with down the line.”

032 frowned before the conversation was interrupted by a loud crash from downstairs. Heat shifted and opened his eyes, rubbing them confusedly as he sat up. “...What’s going on?” He asked before pausing in shock at seeing 032.

032 smiled and raised a hand in greeting before signing, “They don’t seem to know sign language; you’re translating.”

“What?”

“You’re welcome! You can teach them later on. I’ll print stuff out for you to work with.”

“Anyways-hi! I’m 032, I’m 033’s immediate predecessor and I’m designed to detect lies. Can’t talk for it, so I have to use sign language and write instead.”

Hammerface translated to the three, Plasmoid giving an enthusiastic “Cool!” while Heat and Thresher listened quietly.

“So...you’re 032 and...who was that downstairs?” Heat asked, “Oh-also, I’m Heat, Thresher’s to the left of me, and Plasmoid’s on the right. And Hammerface is behind you.”

032 laughed silently at Hammerface’s name, earning him crossed arms and a scowl from the tool experiment. “...Lemme answer the latter first; my name’s Fibber, nice to meet the three of you. As for the noise downstairs though...that’d be Angel. Most likely.” He frowned and let out a sigh, “Angel’s experiment 624; she’s supposed to turn formerly evil people back to being such with a special song. Do you three...know her by any chance? Just asking.” 

The other three simply stared awkwardly before Plasmoid spoke up. “We...didn’t really have contact with other 6-series-at least those of us who weren’t successful on Jumba’s terms. I could answer if I knew her, but I was deactivated when she was still being planned out.” He frowned, “Why do you ask anyways?”

“No reason I suppose…” 032 signed, almost seeming to grimace, “She’s just...a handful is all.”

As soon as Hammerface finished relaying this to the others, another crash followed by Gantu yelling at someone could be heard downstairs. 032 shook his head in annoyance. “You okay to come downstairs? Everyone already knows you’re here including her, so you should be in the clear for...that.”

“Oh boy. I dunno if I’m ready for that; I already had to deal with…” Hammerface paused and took a look at Heat, Thresher, and Plasmoid. “...Fuck it, what’s one more if it’ll just be five-”

“Six, actually, 586 is here too.”

“Six then. I’m screwed. Right. You three just woke up, so you don’t have to go down if you don’t want. I am though.”

“We’ll go.” Heat said, “Right?”

“Yeah sure; I wanna see 624, it’d be cool to know how her blueprints translated and all.” Plasmoid said as Thresher gave a nod in agreement. “We’re up to go, plus we’re all hungry.”

“Huh. Speaking of which, we’re-well-trying to get dinner ready. Dinner that’s not sandwiches anyways.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The lower level of the ship was in chaos when the five experiments made their way downstairs. Experiments were gathered around in the kitchen furiously surrounding Gantu and 625, and at their head was the exact experiment Fibber must’ve been talking about; there was just no other way.

624, Angel, was right up in both 625 and Gantu’s faces with the remains of a sandwich, screeching at the both of them:

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS? YOU’RE TOO CHEAP TO SPEND HAMSTERVIEL’S CRAP ON ANYTHING OTHER THAN SANDWICH SHIT?! I WARNED YOU I’D DISSECT THEM IF YOU GAVE THEM OUT AGAIN, FOR FUCK’S SAKES I’D LIKE TO HAVE SOMETHING HOT FOR DINNER FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE. BUT SINCE YOU’RE TOO FUCKING CHEAP AND LAZY TO GO TO THE GROCERY STORE AND THEN SAY I CAN’T GO BECAUSE I’M ANGEL, WE’RE STUCK WITH THIS CRAP.”

“Angel, I’m-”

Gantu caught sight of Fibber trailed by Hammerface and the other three. “I am...well, you are right, Angel. I will go grocery shopping for some ready made food right away.”

“I want pepperoni pizza, you bloated whale.”

“Right, I will call. Right now. I assume you also want the breadsticks.”

“Extra garlic.”

Gantu reached for the phone in the kitchen and dialed the number for pizza, not moving his eyes from Hammerface the whole while. What’d once been a situation in his favor had-as usual-turned into a nightmare for him; four new experiments who’d sworn to find out exactly what was going on in his ship were now living with him, and if Hammerface’s expression to him was anything to go by, this was going to be a very unpleasant time for him in however many years were to follow…

Hammerface watched this exchange in stunned silence. He knew it was bad, he just didn’t know it’d be THIS bad. This 624 was easily the most hyper he’d ever seen an experiment; she was beyond loud and abrasive, and his intuition told him those weren’t the only obnoxious traits she harbored. Angel turned triumphantly towards the group before noticing Fibber and the four new experiments.

“Oh! Hi! You’re finally up!” She said, waving at them, “I screamed for pizza since I know you only had 625’s sandwiches so far and all.”

“I’m Angel by the way,” She added, “Fibber told you guys right? About...ya know...this?” She gestured around the ship at the rest of the experiments and an increasingly annoyed Gantu. 

“Agh...yeah, he did.” Hammerface confirmed before being cut off by Heat. 

“What’s pepperoni pizza and why do you want garlic on bread?”

“Because it tastes good and it’s not sandwiches and we have sandwiches every day because of sandwich bitch over here.” Angel pointed to 625, who promptly held up his hands and backed away from her, “I take it upon myself to do everyone a favor as much as I can over it.”

She tore up the rest of the sandwich and began to eat the remains as she went on, “I would go shopping if I could, but SOMEONE-” She turned and yelled to Gantu, “barely lets me leave the ship, so I can’t do anything but this.”

“Could you go into the other room?” Gantu asked, placing his hand over the phone at Angel’s nonstop rambling, “I’d suggest it if you don’t want me messing up your order.”

“Ugggghhhhh fine, we’ll GO.” Angel snapped, only for an experiment Hammerface hadn’t seen in years to cut in.

“Oh come on Angel, it’s enough that he’s actually ordering in the first place...even if it does mean he’ll be free from sandwiches too.” 119 said, crossing her arms and flattening her antenna. 

“Hey 033.” She added, nodding towards Hammerface. 

“Hello...119…” 

“Fudgy now actually; named myself after I got mistaken for 611-long story. Anyways,” She nodded towards the ship’s doors, “Let’s head somewhere we’re more free to talk.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The area Fudgy led the group to was in the hallway adjacent to the kitchen and two doors down from Gantu’s room, a foldable table having been set up (it seemed permanently) for the experiments living in the ship. It was also extremely cluttered, multiple papers and food remains covering the top. Fudgy sighed and shook her head at it before turning to Hammerface, “...Oh boy, welcome, I guess? You guys’re definitely the largest group we’ve gotten-everyone else was caught individually so far.”

“Yeah...we were all in the same place when he found our pods.” Hammerface said. “We’re here now, so…”

“Right-I’m Fudgy now, you’ve already met with Fibber and Angel, and 103 and 204 are now Stamen and Nosox.” She explained, gesturing to the two experiments; both nodded to Hammerface in greeting as Fudgy looked around, “Anyone wanna introduce themselves? I know Tank’s in the same series as 544, so maybe you’d want to go first?”

The orange experiment nodded excitedly before giving a loud grunt and pointing to himself, “Tank.” He said, “Meega’s coming out of another cold, so tay using Tantalog right now since isa easier. 544 gets it, right?”

Thresher nodded, “Yeah; it’s cool 586-er, Tank-sorry.” He finished with a glance to the ground, his face reddening. “So uh-how are you doing?”

Tank laughed, “Meega good! Naga be sorry 544.”

“Anyways,” A small, fly-like experiment butted in, “My name’s Amnesio and 323 over there’s now Hunkahunka.” An even smaller hummingbird experiment held up a wing in acknowledgement to Amnesio as Angel took over:

“So, Amnesio, Hunkahunka, Fibber, Fudgy, me, Slimy, Zap, Stamen, Nosox, and Tank.” She finished, gesturing to each experiment as she did so, “We all got captured minus myself, I’m like you guys actually-I worked for Gantu too before I found out he was a jerk.”

“...Moving on, do you have names or do you just go by your numbers?” Fudgy asked, tilting her head as a couple of chocolate drops fell off her antenna, “We heard some stuff while we were locked up in Gantu’s secret compartment, but not much. It sounded pretty rough out there at times.” 

“Well, we’ve got names, but we’re still getting used to them; I’m Hammerface now and this is Heat, Thresher, and Plasmoid. And yeah...it was pretty…” Hammerface grimaced, “pretty fucked up, Fudgy.”

“Aw geez…” Fudgy rubbed the back of her head, “I’m really sorry things were so bad for you out there. Anything we can do...aside from the pizza-to make you more comfortable? I know this isn’t exactly a good place to land yourselves in…”

She was suddenly interrupted with a gasp from Angel; “WAIT, WE FORGOT POXY, I’LL BE BACK!” Angel suddenly took off, leaving the group behind as Fudgy put her head in her hands in exasperation, “Forgot his agar plate again! Great!” She said before explaining, “222’s here as well, he’s called Poxy now. Lives on a sugar plate most of the time, dunno if he’ll grow himself to visibility tonight.”

“Oh, wow.”

“She’s always forgetting him; granted he’s microscopic, but he lives on a pretty weird-smelling disk. You’d think she’d keep track of him.” Fudgy said as the two watched the younger three experiments began to mingle with the others, “How are these three by the way?” No one knows who they are aside from Zap and he only knows Heat. It’s a little odd to be honest.”

“Them? They’re fine. Kind of hyperactive, but nowhere near what Angel displayed when we first came down.”

“Ah, that’s good; hopefully they’ll get along with her-she’s pretty...overzealous.”

A moment later, Angel dashed into the room gripping a large dish with a plastic lid over it. Inside, a tiny experiment could be seen peering up at the group from the center of the plate, giving the four newcomers a sheepish grin. 

“I’m really sorry! I put you down and then I got mad ‘cause we were having sandwiches again.” Angel explained to the miniscule experiment. Poxy gave her a thumbs-up in reassurance before waving to Hammerface.

Hammerface, uneasily returned the wave; this was...unnerving. He’d expected experiments to slip through the cracks-Lilo and Stitch were just children after all, but dealing with all of this at once was exhausting. Whatever was going on here was...concerning…

Heat, Thresher, and Plasmoid on the other hand, were ecstatic at seeing the unique new experiment, crowding around to get a better look at him. 

“Whoa-neat!” Plasmoid exclaimed, “So you just live there and you’re surrounded by food? ‘Cause that’s what that agar stuff is anyways...”

Poxy nodded, giving a high pitched laugh as Heat and Thresher began to prod him some more about his living situation, joined by Zap and Tank. 

“They seem sweet,” Fudgy commented, placing her hands on her hips as she watched the younger experiments, “it’s a shame you four ended up with Gantu; I think Lilo would’ve really gotten along with Heat and Thresher.”

“Yeah…”

Just then, the sound of the ship’s bell sounded and Gantu could be heard taking something inside, offering a rather strained “Thanks” to someone outside. Angel shot up instantly, “It’s here!”

A moment later, Gantu walked into the room carrying several boxes. He placed them on the cluttered table before taking the topmost box off, “I got about seven, hopefully that’s enough, since I know 586 eats most of it.”

Tank stuck his tongue out at Gantu as he walked off with his single box of pizza, leaving Thresher to flip open the topmost lid of the boxes.

The smell wafting out caused Hammerface to grip his stomach in a sudden hunger pang; it’d been about three days since both himself and the other three had eaten-not even their clones had done so, and the mere smell of cooked meat and melted cheese was enough to remind him he was practically starving. 

Everyone else seemed to think the same...except Thresher, who grimaced and stepped back from the boxes. Heat looked over to him in confusion, “Hey Thresher? What’s the matter?”

“Well…”

Thresher fidgeted nervously as he glanced at the floor, “I...well, I’m...vegetarian. I can’t have this stuff, even though it smells great...It’s gonna make me throw up if I eat it.”

“Oh-that’s okay! We’ve always got vegetables and fruits around for 625’s sandwich stuff-I’ll go get some.” Angel exclaimed, running out of the room once again. 

Hammerface crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at Thresher once she was gone. 

“This would’ve been very useful to know before I literally helped feed you cheese.”

“I...might’ve been too shy about it and just didn’t feel like telling you. Also I ate around the cheese.”

“Doesn’t matter; please tell me next time; there’s no harm in letting people know you’ve got dietary needs.”

Thresher’s eyestalks moved towards the ground as he turned pinkish-purple, “Sorry…”

“Aw, don’t be, just know it’s okay to tell us-and you should; this is important to know.” Fudgy said, “We wouldn’t want to feed you something that’s going to hurt you. It’s like Hammerface said, there’s no shame in staying safe.”

“Okay, found some! Here, tell me what you think!” Angel exclaimed, sliding into the room with a large bowl of raw vegetables and grapes. Handing the bowl to Thresher, she instantly strode over to the table and grabbed several pizza slices, “Earth stuff’s great by the way!” She added in-between large bites, “There’s so much junk food here-it’s full of sugar and a crap ton-”

Heat almost immediately grabbed the entire box, grabbing his own slice from within. Angel looked to him briefly in surprise, only for Heat to just as quickly offer an explanation.

“Oh-I actually have to eat this, it’s-”

“-Part of being an energy experiment, right?” Hammerface finished, walking over to open the second box and taking out his own couple of slices, “You’re an odd one; I don’t think I’ve seen anyone talk about their powers as much as you have. It’s nothing bad, it’s just interesting it comes up so often.”

Heat shrugged, “Jumba never taught me anything about what they were, so I researched on my own a lot. Heat stuff’s hard...not my name, but heat energy and transfer.”

“Oh, don’t worry-it was the same with me too; he just told me about my main powers. I found out I had super speed on my own.” Angel added, “Did you find anything cool before you got here?”

As Heat launched into a tangent about said powers to Angel, Hammerface took his couple of slices back to Fudgy, seeing her expression one of concern-it matched his own very well given what they’d just heard. “Him too?” She mouthed as she took one from him, “God…”

Hammerface gave a slight nod-not enough to let Heat and Angel know they were being talked about, but enough to catch the attention of the other 0 through 3 series, “But why though?” He asked, his voice low, “What’s the point of doing this?”

Stamen shrugged as he watched the younger experiments, his ears drooping. Fibber signed, “There’s none; he just got lazy from the looks of it. It’s frightening to be honest. Powerful experiments like them should know everything about their abilities, and yet they don’t.” 

Hammerface frowned as he ate, quickly finishing his slice and dusting off his hands. Maybe it was him, but he didn’t feel like just...devouring everything just yet despite not eating in a day. Too much had happened for him to feel comfortable enough to eat, plus, if he was hungry, he couldn’t imagine what the other three must be feeling given how they were tearing into their own food. Heat was trying to multitask by having his conversation with Angel, but Thresher and Plasmoid ignored everyone in favor of wolfing down their meals. 

He was suddenly interrupted by a wet feeling on his arm, turning around to see Fudgy holding out a pizza slice to him...the crust of which was covered in her chocolate. 

“Hey, no; I see that look. Eat a few more.”

He reluctantly took the slice, wiping the chocolate off the pizza and biting into it. Fudgy nodded, “We’re heading to bed after this; you guys can go up to the top floor again if you want, if not we can show you where we sleep.”

“MMMFFF-they wanna sleep with us! Right?” Angel asked the three, quickly stuffing the rest of her slice into her mouth and looking over to them expectantly. 

Heat nodded, followed by Thresher and Plasmoid, “Yeah; of course.”

“Well,” Hammerface said, turning to Fudgy, “that settles it then.”

“Great.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`~~~~

Zap led the four newcomers into what looked to be an entertainment center of the ship; chairs, a lounge, a TV, and several tables and benches were scattered around the area, playing card sets, papers, pens, and even some stuffed toys littering the room. On the floor were more makeshift beds and a couple of sleeping bags, pillows strewn about in between them. Angel immediately grabbed a toy and threw herself into one of them after setting Poxy down in the middle of one of the tables, followed by Tank and Stamen. “Mmff-is’ been a long day; we got shoved in the holding compartment while you were out and about.” She said, her voice muffled by the pillow, “Ya stand all day and it sucks balls and we had to do a pee line at like, twelve noon and be really quiet about it.”

“...Pee line?”

Fudgy sighed, “How many times have I told you to just call it a bathroom break Angel? We’ve been through this so many times.”

“‘Cause it’s funny.”

Fudgy grimaced, shaking her head to Heat at his question, “They’re restroom breaks-that’s rare when we have to do that, you were a special case I suppose...aside from Pinky herself over there.”

“Weird, even with 627 we were allowed all over the place-we got to interact with you, but Angel and these four didn’t.” Zap pondered, “We heard it was for some weird revenge fantasy though, so that’s probably it…”

“...Well, we did help it backfire though, we couldn’t be moved out and then decided to start giving information to Lilo and Stitch. Serves him right for making us act out his stupid fantasy.” Plasmoid said.

“Really?”

“Yep.”

“Nice-most of us weren’t too intentional but it’s similar to what I do. Every time a new experiment activates, I shut down all his security and lockdown systems. He hates it every time.” Zap explained, grinning to Plasmoid.

“Ah-cool!”

“Anyways, reel it in everyone; it’s late, like Angel said we had to do a...ugh-that, and these four need to recover some more. Hammerface? There’s some more blankets inside the cupboard, dunno about pillows though.” Fudgy said, gesturing towards a partially opened cabinet near an especially messy table.

“Thanks; I’ll just get those set up and we’ll be good for the night.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The day had ended on a happier note than Hammerface had thought, aside from now being stuck with Gantu and Hamsterviel. But seeing he had Fibber, Fudgy, Stamen, Nosox, Amnesio and Hunkahunka made him feel a little more hopeful as to their situation. Gantu was clearly not much of a threat if they stayed together and 625…

Well, they’d have to get him out of here as well; he clearly wasn’t the type who’d do well in such an environment…

But in any case, they were here now, and that meant he’d have to do everything he could to both protect these 5 and 6 series and get their group away from Hamsterviel for good…

However, unbeknownst to everyone, in the early morning hours of the night, the experiment computer suddenly lit up, opening to reveal the image of a pudgy, pig-like experiment. Hammerface would’ve recognized him, as would Fibber if the two were awake; the three had been good friends back in the lab, and Hammerface had even been on several missions with this experiment.

**“Warning! Experiment 199 activated! Primary function: Gossip. Utilizes escape artistry and spy tactics to expose enemy secrets.”**


	5. Arriving Gossip

**Chapter Five: Arriving Gossip**

Morning in the ship was cold, even in the usual warmth of the island. The air conditioning was on 24/7 and although he was sure it was so Gantu could stay cool, it didn’t do him any favors. Needless to say he kept the heating pad he’d been given when Jumba and the others had merged him back into one; days afterwards, it was still turned up at night and early morning. Heat growled and pulled his blanket up over himself, burrowing into them to stay warm as small pockets of light filtered in from the windows. Angel and most everyone else was already up, and Hammerface could be heard from the kitchen, pleading with 625 to let him finish making breakfast...for what was now easily the fifth time in a row.

Angel’s nail suddenly poked his nose, causing Heat to open an eye and give her a groggy stare.

“Hm.”

“What’s with the “hm”? It’s 8:30; get up already.”

“I don’t think so.”

“...You’re really not a morning person are you? This is like, every day I’ve had to prod you now, it’s getting annoying.” 

Angel was answered with another pull of the blanket, this time completely covering Heat’s head. She sighed, “The food’ll be ready soon; Hammerface is making bacon and hash browns and I’ll eat them if you can’t, so…” 

“Alright fine-I’m up, I’m up…”

Angel couldn’t help but flatten her ears in concern at Heat as he sat up and stretched; he was unusually slow to wake up for an experiment, even when there was food involved-which helped for just about everyone else. She could tell this also wasn’t exactly normal for him either from how the other three reacted to it; Hammerface always raised an eyebrow and Plasmoid would practically drag Heat out into the kitchen if he didn’t get up when they did. She’d only heard bits and pieces of what’d happened to bring the four to the rest of them, but hearing about 344...she wondered if there were any lasting side effects…

Heat took the lead, rubbing his eyes as he walked into the kitchen...only for Hammerface to make a disgusted noise the minute he saw what he was really doing.

“Oh for the love of hell-don’t flick your eye boogers on the floor in here, I just finished making everything.”

Angel burst out laughing as Heat protested, “No I’m not! There’s nothing there!”

The hammer-headed experiment just placed his hands on his hips and shot Heat an irritated look, causing him to groan in annoyance. “Alright fine, I won’t do it okay?”

“Good. Now go wash your hands, I’m going to get everything on the table.” 

Angel rushed to the crowded table as Heat split off from her, meeting with Thresher and Plasmoid. She couldn’t help but notice Thresher seemed a little uncomfortable; the taller experiment was shifting his knee again, giving a slight grimace. He’d been doing that occasionally and...it was odd. Maybe he slept at a weird angle again.

She reached up and flicked his shoulder, causing Thresher to start and turn his eyestalks towards her.

“Yeah?”

“How’s the vegetables been? Hammer’s basically forced Gantu to get better ones since he found out you can’t have any meat, so you noticed anything different?”

Thresher hesitated as he gathered his thoughts. “Kind of; it’s at least not soggy like what you gave me the night we met you-no offense to you of course.” 

“Cool-I’m gonna try seeing if we can make him buy you pomegranates when fall comes around.”

“...And those are…?”

“-Only the best fruit on this entire planet; the only thing with them is that they’re a bitch to open, so someone’s gonna have to do it for you. ‘Course I’ll scream for Gantu to get some a few months from now-that’s when they’re in season.”

“You mean like how you got him to buy the pizza the night we met you?” Heat asked as he returned to the table, “It was funny how mad he got over it.”

Plasmoid laughed, “Yeah; then he saw Hammerface and totally shut down-it was hilarious.”

“Yep! It works every time-I’ve gotten some cool shit from yelling enough and threatening to try to leave.”

Hammerface snorted as he set the last plate down on the table, piled high with hash browns and diced potatoes, “That’s not very surprising; it’s clear that if he accomplishes anything, he needs someone else’s help. Someone much more competent then he is-or can ever hope to be.” He finished as his head turned to the next room over as Gantu’s shadow moved towards the entrance, holding a capture container.

He smirked, “Happy hunting!” He called out, watching Gantu turn in their direction before giving an angry mutter and leaving the ship. Fudgy and Stamen laughed as Hammerface turned back to the table, snickering himself. “I can get used to saying that,” He said, “what’s it been now? Five days of trying to catch 199? He probably knows the entire layout of the island by now; Gantu’s just wasting his time.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty likely. Most experiments get away from him fairly quickly-he’s not good with picking up or holding us-and I’d know from experience.” Fibber signed before taking a knife and cutting up his egg, “Still though, I hope Lilo and Stitch find him soon.”

“Eeh, I think he’s fine-it’s 199, he’s an escape artist.” Stamen reassured Fibber, “If anything goes wrong he can find his way out of here pretty quickly, plus-five days? He’s probably with Lilo and Stitch by now.”

“Speaking of which, anyone got anything planned for today? Anything that’s not just laying around in the dirt outside?” Fudgy asked the gathered experiments as they ate. Angel immediately answered her, “TV!!”

“What the-more TV? You and Heat have been staying up all night watching that thing, what’s going on with that?” Fudgy asked, only to be met with a sputtered “Girls!” from Angel and Heat’s face turning the color of a beet. “Whoa-hey! Slow down!” She exclaimed, throwing up her hands and speckling the floor with a couple chocolate drops, “I mean, you two seem pretty obsessed in general, but I’ve never seen it at this level before, that’s all.”

Heat flushed further and poked a stray hash brown with his fork, “Well...I kinda wanted to watch it, it’s just, y-y’know there’s other experiments here and she met some and well I...kind of wanted to do the same so why not find out about them first and-.”

“It’s that 601 isn’t it.”

Heat let out a high pitched laugh at a stone-faced Plasmoid, “Ahahahaha-no, no it’s not-”

Fibber beeped and quickly covered his mouth, causing Heat to jump, “Agh-sorry! I forgot…”

The smaller experiment shook his head and signed, “It’s fine; if you want to find out more about 601, Angel’s actually the best person to go to. Just be careful, we are stuck here after all and there’s a lot we can say about one-sided relationships.”

“See, now you went and made Fibber beep at the table because you can’t handle us noticing you like him.” Plasmoid said irritably, annoyed with Heat’s subpar attempt at denial, “Fib’s right though; Angel’s the best person to go to for 601 stuff. I would be but he was already gone by the time I was made. I did hear he was pretty highly accomplished in the old lab though.”

“I…thanks.” Heat’s face felt like it was almost burned from all the blood that’d rushed into his cheeks as he finished the rest of his food, “I uh, just…”

Fudgy smiled, “It’s okay Heat; we get it, you’re flustered so we’ll leave it be for the time being. ...Right Plasmoid?” She raised an eyebrow at the scorpion experiment, who simply shrugged and turned to squint at his breakfast before deciding to ignore her, “Look Heat, I really don’t get why you think this is in any way a big deal; I was into 619 a little and 610 was already thinking up a form to help her go on dates with 18, so I don’t get the hesitation with you.”

“I dunno-this is my first time well...ever with this, so I guess I’m nervous? You know I was gone before 620 came out, so I didn’t get much time.”

“You shouldn’t be nervous; we’re on Earth now and things are a lot less awkward here, even in this ship.” Hunkahunka said, “Weirdly enough, I’d say humans would be an obstacle, but we’re experiments, so they can’t really do anything to us, especially not to you. Just…” He looked to Hammerface, “You know...wanna tell him?”

The older experiment paused and shot a glance at the panels on the ceiling-the areas the videophone was located, “Just...be careful around Hamsterviel. I’ll tell you more when the chance of us being surprised by him is lower than it currently is-not to mention, I don’t want to ruin the mood here.”

“But that aside,” He finished, picking up his plate, “You two should probably get a few shows in, Gantu seems to hate the local channel-can’t even watch the weather forecast with him around.”

“Just make sure to eventually meet 601; we can technically leave so it is possible.” Hunkahunka added as he helped himself to a cup of grape juice, “Angel can help with that, she sneaks out as you...probably know by now, so you’re in good hands. And wings.” He grinned and held both out, making the younger experiment laugh, “Yeah, thanks Hunka, I will.” Heat smiled as the flush left his face. It felt pretty reassuring to have this much encouragement from the others. He drank the rest of his coffee as Angel jumped down from the table...and let out a gigantic burp.

The effect was immediate; the younger experiments burst into laughter while Hammerface let out a frustrated “Really?!” and Fudgy countered by scolding him for acknowledging her behavior. Angel grinned triumphantly and swaggered away, followed by a chuckling Heat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Okay, local channel, local channel, here!” Angel said, coming to a rest on the specific channel she’d been trying to find. It was the county’s regional channel, featuring news, comedy routines, talent shows, and well...experiments. 604 and 601 to be exact, along with 509 at the water tower and the occasional appearance of 520. Earth TV was, well, simple-much more simple than Galactic, but Angel couldn’t help but like it better. It was way more chaotic and weird than anything they’d get off-planet if the talent shows were anything to go by. Not to mention other experiments such as 604 and 601 gave them an insight into how they-and by extension Lilo and Stitch’s experiment hunting-were doing. 

601’s exercise DVD commercials were Angel’s absolute favorite to watch. Not because she’d met him or anything (and that was awkward anyways), but because he was the one who seemed to enjoy himself the most, doing extra complex moves to impress the audience and often laughing and poking fun at the pitches throughout the commercials. Of course that was just him when he was onscreen-the real 601 was more...tired thanks to his work, but she did know he enjoyed it from their conversation when she’d temporarily turned him evil. 

Of course, even though Heat had yet to truly see it, there was also Gantu’s reactions to 601’s commercials. These ranged from simple scowls to straight up slapping the power button on the TV to shut it off. Thanks to 601, the TV was never turned on to Kokaua’s local channel. 

Potential 601 commercials weren’t available at the moment, as the news was on. More of 199’s antics, this time spoiling new movies in the theater right as they were about to open. Heat had already settled down on the floor in front of the TV, having dragged a pillow over to sit on. Angel joined him as he stared quizzically at the screen. “He hasn’t been caught yet, is that normal?” 

“Huh, no actually. It’s pretty weird but then again, we have the computer and they don’t.” Angel said, “He’s an escape artist, so maybe they keep losing him or something.”

“Maybe.”

Heat was silent a moment, eyes seeming to stare at the ground and glint a slight green-or maybe that was the reflection of the ship’s lighting again. Who knew. Angel flattened her ears, then clapped a hand on his shoulder, causing him to blink and stare up at her. 

“Yeah?”

“You’re zoning out again. Also, I told you the whole story about 601 and all, but we gotta sneak out sometime and have ya meet him before you go all weird. I kinda worry about Stitch that way and I’ll be damned if I let that crap happen to you.” 

“Oh-oh yeah! We have to; everything’s gray here; the walls the floors, even Gantu and Hammerface.” Heat wrinkled his nose, “Before you know it, it’s going to spread; Stamen’s already looking real bad and I think we’ve lost Nosox by now.”

Angel snorted, “Pppffttt-yeah! Soon it’ll spread to Plasmoid and then, we’ll be the last to go as our fur loses all its color and we start wanting to be Earth accountants. Anyways,” Angel turned and placed a finger to her mouth in thought, “I wanna take you to the beach gym especially-it’s a little ways from here but it’s really cool-has a ton of weights and there’s a boxing ring. Plus 601’s often there so it’s basically killing two birds with one stone.”

“That sounds cool, but how are we gonna get out? You do sneak out, but still...Gantu’s pretty intent on keeping you here...” 

“Oh-that’ll be super easy!” Angel gave a wide grin to Heat at his question, “You’re gonna help sneak me out this time.”

“Okay, deal.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Three in the afternoon. 

The day passed uneventfully for Angel and Heat as Hammerface and Fudgy discovered when the two made their way into the room with the TV, finding both tired and very very overstimulated. Gantu had come back empty-handed once again and was in no mood to deal with the experiments, making his way into the galley area of the ship for lunch.

Fudgy sighed, “Come on guys, let’s get you some lunch, everyone already had theirs so you two’ll be easy.”

“Naga-I mean…I don’t wanna.” Angel said indignantly, crossing her arms as Heat began to get up, rubbing his eyes from all the time he’d ended up spending in front of the screen. There were several times where it’d become a strange blur in his mind, but there’d been a movie marathon and well, one thing had led to another. He tiredly pulled up Angel by her arm with one hand, who’d dramatically collapsed onto the floor at Fudgy’s words, “God, why are you so heavy?” He huffed as Angel smirked and let herself dangle, “Because I’m close to hell.” She quipped before abruptly hearing something strange-the ring of the doorbell. She quickly snapped to attention and scrambled to her feet, flattening her ears in alarm.

Fudgy narrowed her eyes and turned towards the entrance to the ship in suspicion, “That’s weird, isn’t Gantu back?” 

“He is. He’s been back for a bit. Something’s off.” Hammerface turned to Fudgy, “By any chance, is this…?”

“Yeah, this is new. Something’s up.”

“Shit.” 

The four waited, only to be met with something even stranger. Angel pricked up an ear and looked to the others. “I hear Stitch and Gantu.”

Fudgy raised an eyebrow, “Really.”

“Actually yes-really. She’s right; I can hear him too.” Hammerface said in a low voice, “Something’s happening out there.”

“Shut that off.” Gantu snapped as he returned, walking past them hurriedly into the hallway, “You know how I feel about that channel.”

Angel stared after him, but bent down, picking up the remote and shutting off the TV before turning to stare at the rest of the group. 

“He has a box with him.”

Hammerface stiffened and Fudgy grimaced. A box? Could this really be happening? Had he...actually gotten 199?

An enthusiastic shout coming from the other room immediately confirmed their suspicions, as a familiar voice to Hammerface and Fudgy rang out through the still air of the ship. 

“Hel- _LO_ shorty!”

Hammerface felt a scream coming. He bit down hard on his tongue. Too hard, actually-he felt blood beginning to ooze up through his teeth and immediately stopped, his eyes watering from the pressure. “Shi-” he started, but couldn’t finish, as his tongue gave out and Fudgy instantly moved to cover his mouth. “Shhh!” She hissed, “We’re getting out of here and going to one of the rooms okay? Not one of us is going to do or say anything until we’re there, got it?”

The remaining group nodded grimly as they began to make their way to the ship’s elevator, careful not to alert 199 to their presence…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“199...dammit!” Hammerface banged his fist down on the table, his hand leaving a dent in the metal, “How could this happen?” He felt his eyes begin to tear up; 199 was one of his good friends back in the old lab. He was fun and yet very understanding, being both the life of any party and a compassionate friend to those around him. In fact, contrary to his function, he was actually the experiment to go to to keep confidential information hidden. Before Hammerface had come out to everyone else, 199 had kept his changing identity a secret and protected it, instead diverting the conversations to botched missions whenever things went in a compromising turn. It wasn’t even really embarrassing; even he thought his messed up missions were great stories, so it was a win-win for the two at the time.

Fudgy handed him a cup of ice water, glancing up towards the ceiling of the ship where 199 could be heard blurting out multiple secrets to Gantu and 625. “This isn’t a normal capture; something’s very wrong.”

“You’re sure you heard Stitch outside?” She asked Angel, “Because...you know what this’ll mean if you did.”

Angel nodded, her ears drooping, “He’s got a really weird voice, so I can pick him out anywhere. That was definitely him outside.”

“But...that makes no sense.” Heat said, “She promised they’d try to catch every experiment after what happened with us, so why would they give 199 to Gantu like this? In some giftbox no less…”

“I don’t know. Best case scenario, she had a lapse in judgement or thought we would just protect him if he came. But the worst case is...well, it’s not something I would expect of Lilo at all, given what we’ve seen...” Hammerface said through a mouthful of pinkish ice. “We should regroup with the others as soon as possible. Maybe they’ll have some other ideas about this.”

“Hold on.” Fudgy said, motioning for Hammerface to sit back down as he began to get up, “We’re still not completely calm yet. Since I’ve been here the longest, I can say there’s several experiments who are going to blow their top if they find this out the way we did. In a way, he was lucky we were the ones to hear this, so given that, let’s just wait a couple minutes until…” She paused and looked at the pink stain from Hammerface’s mouth, “...until your bleeding goes down. How about that?” 

Hammerface shared a glance between Heat and Angel before nodding in silent agreement, getting up for another glass of ice water. He flinched as he spat in the sink and held his mouth as he refilled his cup. “Damn teeth; they’re not even supposed to be like this.” He let out a dry laugh, “They ended up like this thanks to some animal he used in my creation, so they’re like knives. If only the rest of me was made for them, they’d be perfect.”

“Yeesh, Jumba told me he gave 602 the same thing and even though he made him able to handle it, he still had problems.” Angel said, stretching her legs and quite happy to at least temporarily get away from the subject of 199’s capture, “It was like, every time he even bit his lip, it’d start bleeding really bad and then we’d have to get 610 over to help fix it up. It was kinda gross but mostly painful to watch.” 

“Hph-mine’s exactly that,” Hammerface returned to the table with a new mouthful of ice and water, “Can’t even nick the inside of my mouth or else there’s blood everywhere. I feel for 602.” He held the ice in his mouth for a bit before eating it, “There’s a couple of us in the 0-series who are similar to me; they have traits that slipped through from whatever was used to make them, glad to hear he started paying well...slightly closer attention in later years.”

“Well...kind of. He gave 610 possession by accident though, but I think that was just because of her powers being what they were.” Heat said. “I hope Lilo and Stitch find her, I wouldn’t want her ending up stuck here.”

“Thankfully they haven’t yet. She’s the one who does transmutations right?” Fudgy asked, “I know from Angel she’s very powerful, so let’s hope that when she does get activated, they do everything they can to catch her.” 

“She’s a magic user too, so I hope she turns Gantu into something dumb, like an Earth bunny.” Angel said, “The have dumb looks in their eyes just like him, so it’d be a good fit.” 

“...You’re thinking of hares Angel.” Fudgy corrected, snickering at her suggestion, “But it still stands.”

“Anyways…” She stole a glance to Hammerface, “how’s the tongue? Did it stop bleeding yet?”

“It’s about there.” Hammerface said, “And I’m about calmed down...as much as I’ll ever be. He is a friend after all.”

“Yeah, that’s reasonable. Let’s-hold on.” Fudgy held up a hand and motioned for the rest to listen. Heat and Angel exchanged a glance before Angel opened her mouth to let the rest of the group hear what was going on.

“Listen, just take him and get out-get him back to the two brats if you have to. The diary was fine, but everything else he’s done isn’t.” 

“Alright, yeesh! You owe me more dillweed after this.”

The subsequent sound of the ship’s entrance opening and closing caused Hammerface to stand up and clap his hands, staring irritably at the table surface. 

“I bit my tongue for nothing.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nighttime on Earth didn’t come early, as Hammerface had seen for himself. Apparently days were much longer in Earth’s summer, so it was half past four as he began to get food out of the fridge and and pantries for dinner. Ever since he’d came, 625 had immediately relinquished food duties to him-save lunch, which was always sandwiches. It seemed it was all he cared to do, so Hammerface didn’t want to encroach on his very apparent hobby, but sandwiches for dinner and breakfast simply weren’t enough, as he’d had to very carefully explain to the pudgy experiment. It didn’t stop them from being on the table at every meal, but it did allow for more variety of food. 

He was just getting a large steak out of the meat compartment when 625 walked into the room, a groggy, annoyed look on his face. “Why ya gotta do this at 4:30? It’s way too early for dinner on here you know.”

“That’s because something this big needs a lot of work.” Hammerface said, pointing to the steak. “There’s 15 of us...and Gantu, and one of that, so that plus all the chicken breasts I pulled out of the fridge need to all be marinated and put in the oven if we’re going to eat tonight. Not to mention all the vegetables and everything else I pulled out.” He grimaced, “From how few of these still out all the time, I’m honestly wondering if Gantu’s constipated. It’s ridiculous.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” 625 said, “That’s kinda why I just stick with sandwiches. Everything else is too hard or takes too long, but,” He got out a stack of bread and made his way to the fridge, “not this, so it all works out.”

Hammerface nodded; 625’s sandwich obsession was certainly strange, but he wasn’t going to push it. It seemed rooted in a bit of pain, and he didn’t feel he was qualified to ask about it given 625 was well...failed-it was very obvious he was, and he suspected the sandwiches were maybe a response to that. He’d tried helping 625 make sandwiches, but he was so defensive of them and how they were made, he’d eventually just left him to his own devices. 

Hammerface had turned to the spice cabinet before being startled-someone was running as fast as they could into the room, wheezing from the effort. A moment later, Heat burst inside, placing his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. 

“Hammer-I-it’s 199-he’s back!” 

“What?!” Both 625 and Hammerface exclaimed-and both having completely opposite reactions, Hammerface dropped the jar of parsley he’d just taken out, small bits of dried leaf scattering across the floor while 625 near jumped up in his enthusiasm to see the snooping experiment again. “What happened?! Why’s he back?”

“I don’t know! I just saw Gantu take him in!”

“Shit.” Hammerface looked around at the table filled with food, “I-uh,”

“I’ll help put those away, it’s worth it if he’s back.” 625 exclaimed, bringing out his extra arms, You can go out and tell him I really wanna hear more stories.”

Hammerface gave 625 a brief, but cold stare at his enthusiasm, “This is not funny 625, we thought he was safe.” 

“Yeah well, with you guys here, he’ll be fine!”

“That is not the point, and you can stop making comments right now.” Hammerface snapped, “Heat, go tell the others we’re on our way.”

The orange experiment nodded as he ran back out of the room, leaving the two to shove the chicken and steak back inside the meat compartment…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hammerface huffed as he walked down the hallway, crossing his arms as 625 ran excitedly ahead. 199...his capture was abnormal according to Fudgy and Angel. He didn’t know what to think of it, and a horrible thought about Lilo and Stitch was growing in the back of his mind after hearing Stitch’s voice outside. He really didn’t want to think it, but it almost seemed like they’d _given_ him to Gantu. Or they had, and...he didn’t want to admit it…

He sucked in a breath as he walked into the room, seeing the familiar pig-like experiment surrounded by everyone else, talking hurriedly-and excitedly-about his day. 199 looked over as he entered, and the mood quickly turned.

“...33?” 

“199…”

“I…” Hammerface’s voice caught in his throat, causing 199 to quickly take over, “Aw geez-it’s fine! This place doesn’t seem to be that bad! I mean, sure we got ratface to deal with, but you’re all here! And-” He grinned and clapped his hand on 625’s shoulder, “I’ve got a pretty big fan-he’s eating up every one of my stories!”

“Yeah...it’s just…”

“Look, I know. I could tell from just the sight of this place it was gonna suck. But the bright side is, we can leave! There’s so many of us here, all we need is the right time and we’re gone.”

“And on top of that, I thought I was gonna be alone here-save Gantu and 625, but it turns out I’m not. I have all of you guys, so we can figure something out, right?”

199 walked over and placed a hand on Hammerface’s shoulder, “Things’re okay, alright? I’m fine, I’m kind of confused, but I’m still okay! Okay?”

Hammerface’s face flushed as he quietly nodded, allowing himself a slight smile at 199’s repeated use of “okays” to get his point across. 199 laughed and signed to Fibber, “Okay, storm’s cleared up again, this took only four sentences. Or maybe it was six? I dunno.”

“You know I can see that right?” Hammerface asked, crossing his arms in annoyance at the allegory.

“That’s the point.”

Hammerface couldn’t help but snort as Fibber walked up to the two of them, letting out silent laughter. It truthfully did feel good to have his friend with him, even with the situation he’d been sucked into. Just like how 199 felt, he was no longer “alone”-he had a longtime friend to help now, and 199 was an escape artist on top of that. Suppose he could allow himself to truly feel like they could escape…

He gave a small-but larger than before-smile to the dull pink experiment, “So...we can talk about what happened later on, but what do you want to do now that you’re here? 625 wanted to see you and I’m getting dinner ready, so it’s fine if you want to talk with everyone while I cook.”

“Oh-sure! I’ll stay here and share some stuff. Can I do your famous botched first mission again?”

“Go ahead, it’s a favorite-or it was at least, but yeah! I’m gonna go back and get everything on the table.” Hammerface said, nodding as he walked back into the hallway. 

However, as he did so, his smile slowly disappeared and was replaced with a look of sadness…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dinner had easily been the loudest Hammerface had ever heard; 199, or as he was now called-Nosy-had once again stolen the show with his stories. He’d strictly stuck to his early days exploring Earth and even managed to tell about certain free experiments on the island. Thankfully, according to him, powerful experiments were commonly activated and immediately found by Lilo and Stitch, so they were very competent given the danger of other experiments and Gantu roaming the island. 

Hammerface and Fudgy had seen the younger experiments off to bed. All the older ones had stayed behind, not just to help him clean up, but to get to the bottom of why and how Nosy had been captured. He’d avoided the story all throughout dinner, and Hammerface could tell that behind the upbeat, peppy smile and dramatic performances, 199 was troubled. 

199 was sitting at the table, quietly sipping a glass of ice water with a lemon slice. He picked up another lemon and squeezed it, tossing it into the glass as he looked around, then at Hammerface and Fibber as the two sat down, joined by Amnesio, Hunkahunka, Stamen, Slimy, Nosox, and Fudgy. 

“Alright, let’s get to the point. I was given to Gantu.” He said, staring down into the cup of water as lemon seeds floated about, “Twice, actually. Both times because I was fucking up Nani’s job opportunity, but it doesn’t matter.” 

“Who’s Nani?”

“Lilo’s older sister.” 

“Ah.”

“Yeah, they needed it and all, but it still confuses me; me gossiping isn’t a reason to send me here.” Nosy said, “Earth’s primitive-you can say the craziest crap and humans will either completely believe you, or they won’t believe you at all, so I was fine saying anything I wanted-we’re aliens after all, but...that was probably what did it.”

“So it was out of anger then.” Fudgy said, “That’s...I mean, she’s a child and so is Stitch, and they know we’re here, but it’s no excuse. That’s completely rotten they’d do such a thing.”

“It is. It’s disappointing to hear.” Amnesio said, “At least they tried their hardest with us, with you it sounds like they didn’t do so at all.”

“And that timing-that’s rough. Nani’s not the nicest person when it comes to her job and finances. I don’t blame her, but the fact that you were taken over this isn’t right.” Hunkahunka added. “This reminds me of when I was activated to be quite honest…”

“And this comes right after they promised they’d try to catch every experiment as well…” Hammerface said, “Nosy, I’m just...I’m so sorry this happened. Are you alright after all that?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m kinda shaken up, but it is what it is, there’s nothing we can do now.” Nosy took another sip of water, finishing off the glass, “I’m here, and after seeing we’ve got a bunch of younger experiments living on this ship? People like Heat and Angel and Plasmoid? I’m staying. I don’t want Hamsterviel anywhere near them, especially not Heat-the kid’s slow and too nice for his own good. Hamsterviel will eat him alive the first chance he gets.” 

“Ah, so you noticed that too. He’s like the actual Angel, while she’s, well...the opposite.” Fudgy said, “Not an offense to her of course...”

“Yep; I could tell the minute he ran his way up. He kind of reminds me of you, actually, Hammerface. Back when we weren’t old farts like we are now.” 

“I suppose…” Hammerface rested his head on his hands and gave the clock a blank stare, watching the hand slowly move towards the number 11. 10:42, it read. He yawned as his friend stood up, placing his cup in the sink and running it under the water for a couple seconds. 

“Well,” Nosy finished, “I’m disappointed I was captured, but I’m happy I’m at least not on my own here. It’s kind of paradoxical, but it’s nice I have you guys here to help with all this. This won’t be easy and well, you could use a secret keeper-slash-gossiper around here given Hamsterviel. I just know from looking at ‘em they’ll need things hidden.”

Hammerface sighed, “They will. I never got to tell Heat exactly what’s with Hamsterviel today…”

“Oh, so he’s-?”

“It’s him, Angel, and Plasmoid. I’m not sure about Thresher, he hasn’t said anything about it yet. But I’m worried for them after how we had to keep me a secret for all that time-even now.”

“Yeah. Steering him away from thinking that was nerve-wracking. All that awful screaming about funding us to be exactly like our blueprints...”

“I still have to thank you for helping me with that, you know.” Hammerface said, “I was close to him; I would’ve been done for had he ever found out I identified outside his precious binary. It’s thanks to you he never found out.”

“Yeah. I’m keeping that from him for as long as we’re stuck here by the way.” Nosy said, “And I’ll be sure to look out for Heat, Angel, Plasmoid, and Thresher then. They’ll need all the help they can get.” 

“They will; thanks so much for your help.” Fudgy said, smiling at the pudgy experiment. Nosy nodded, “It’s the least I can do after seeing everyone here. And Hammerface?”

“Yeah?”

“Things are pretty complex with everyone here and having all different needs and different things they want to keep secret, but...I’m pretty confident we’ll be able to get out. All we need is a good opportunity to come up, okay?” He glanced at the ground for a moment, “I just really don’t want you to worry or push yourself too hard, you know? Don’t go crazy and overdo it.”

“Yeah, I’m aware…” Hammerface sighed, “Anyways, it’s late; we should get to bed.”

“Right then,” Nosy peered around at the group, “Someone lead the way, I’m the new guy here.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The addition of 199-now Nosy-into their midst had been disappointing, yet at the same time, relieving. Hammerface and the rest of the older experiments now had a friend they could rely on for help, and the younger experiments had someone who’d be happy to keep their secrets safe...at the exchange of embarrassing stories about them. 

Hammerface helped Nosy set up his bedding for the night, unable to restrain himself from yawning at how eventful the day had turned out. After this, they needed a break. A big one...


	6. Paper Stars

**Chapter 6: Paper Stars**

Morning came quickly after Nosy’s addition to the ship, finding the group of now 16 experiments finishing off breakfast. Things were much louder with Nosy; he never ran out of stories and kept everyone occupied the whole morning with tales of everything from Hammerface’s field missions, to Jumba’s reaction to Clip’s creation, secrets uncovered by Fibber’s lie detection, and Fudgy’s petty arguments with 120 and 122. The four 6-series especially loved hearing about Clip’s creation, which was a plus since Hammerface was quite the same-it had been one of the things that made him love her in the first place after all. 

“So guys, no TV for today. Not after the movie marathon turned you two into zombies yesterday, alright?” Fudgy asked Heat and Angel as she cleaned off her plate in the sink, “I know we don’t have much besides cookbooks and sandwich...hobbyist books, but I don’t want you getting overstimulated again.”

“Ugghh, fine. We won’t.” Angel pouted, stabbing her fork into a large steak slice, “It’s just…” She dramatically sighed, “It’s so boring here and I can’t go outside...I guess I’ll just...lie down here forever...” Angel finished by sinking into her chair and placing the back of her hand to her forehead.

Hammerface watched her in annoyance, “You about done?”

“TV.”

“Well…” Hammerface paused and exchanged raised eyebrows with Fudgy; she was right, the two had been disagreeable and bratty when they’d found them the prior day, and while it was understandable-they hadn’t so much as blinked the whole day, he didn’t want a repeat just as much as she did. He decided to instead turn Angel’s attention to Heat. “Why don’t you ask Heat what he wants to do? You are his friend now after all.”

Angel turned expectantly to Heat, but he wrinkled his nose at the thought, “Sorry Angel, but sitting for that long made my butt hurt; I wanna walk around and then try to do something else.” He shot a glance to Angel, seeing her face screw up in slight annoyance, “We can watch TV, but only if we can’t find anything else to do. What do you think?”

Angel thought for a moment, “We can do that, I’m sure there’s some vents I haven’t explored yet. Plus I wanna show Nosy around while we can.” 

However, as she finished, Angel couldn’t help but notice Heat had begun to poke at his napkin with a partially smashed up blackberry, leaving specks of juice dotting the paper. While her first thought was to ask what he was doing and probably tease him for it, seeing this gave her an idea.

“Hey.” She poked Heat, causing the older experiment to raise an eyebrow, “I haven’t done this before, but wanna draw after we show Nosy around? I’m not good so I never did anything with it, but it’s still something at least.”

Heat nodded in agreement, relieved he’d for sure avoid the screen for the day, “Yeah-that’s a good idea actually! I used to draw back at the lab, but I didn’t think Gantu’d have any paper or pens on him he’d want me to use and ours are all dry…”

“Well, he does-he also has bunny slippers-but he does. They’re mostly in his room though, so we’ll just steal ‘em and I’ll handle him if he catches us with them.” Nosy said, “You can trust me; I know how to lie pretty well, comes from being Fibber’s friend, right Hammerface?”

“...Right…” The gray experiment said cautiously as Fibber grinned, clearly proud of his less-than stellar influence on the two, “You should get going if you’re exploring; Gantu comes back at around 12 to 1 in the afternoon.”

“A’ight-well, I’m done then. I’ll be out waiting in the hallway when you’re done with your breakfast, okay?” Nosy said, taking his plate to the sink. 

“Okay! We’re almost done with ours, so we’ll be right behind you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Angel did most of the talking as the two led Nosy around the ship, but the dusty pink experiment soon drowned her out with tales of his own, only interrupting himself to ask about the occasional vent or exposed piping, and where it led. Eventually, the conversation turned to...more serious things than Heat would’ve liked. 

“Has Hamsterviel been...okay around you two? Like, he hasn’t been calling in lately or asking to see you? ‘Cause he’s done that before when he wants to spy.” Nosy asked the younger experiments. He was aware, even from his short time in the ship, that they could get a surprise call at any moment, which spelled trouble if they wanted to leave. Even more pressing was who Heat and Angel were, and after what Hammerface had told him, Nosy was afraid for what could happen should he suspect anything.

“Well, he has once or twice, but it was just to yell at Gantu. Also he keeps screaming about his uh-you know! The LBB!”

“The what now?” Heat asked, squinting in bewilderment alongside Nosy at Angel appearing to make up an entire acronym. She sighed, “I can’t say it out loud you know-it’s-it’s, well, you know! His personal...thing...item-whatever! It was from yesterday!”

“Oh, OH-yeah, that. I stashed that away somewhere he’ll never be able to find it, let alone see it laying around. I’d say it’s in good hands when it comes to 625.” Nosy laughed, pausing to mouth “diary” to Heat as he did so, “That’s a great acronym, make up enough of ‘em and we’ll just confuse the hell out of Hamsterviel if he calls up.”

“Cool! Is it possible to explode his brain from that? Because I wanna try that out if it’s possible.” 

“I...don’t think so, but maybe; you could try, see if it works.” 

So far, there was nothing about Angel or Heat that gave Nosy the impression they would stick out to Hamsterviel. But that was probably because they were unaware of what he thought of them. It was sad-and dangerous, he thought as Angel prattled on about how she was sure there was some kind of brown noise that’s screw up Hamsterviel-maybe enough to make him explode in his cell and surely enough to kill him-that the two were stuck here with someone who wasn’t going to accept them for who they were. Nevertheless, he was willing to do for them what he’d done for Hammerface back then-he had to.

“-Anyways! Here’s the last room; it’s just another one for storage, not much happens in there besides the incinerator going off and maybe Gantu crying like a bitch because he thinks we can’t hear him.” Angel said, pointing towards the aforementioned storage and waste disposal room. “Also, there’s no cameras in there if you’re interested in talking about something you don’t want Hamsterviel finding out about.”

“Really? Thanks for that; now I know where to share info. Like how Hammerface used to have a bunch of kneesocks in the lab or how Fudgy once tried to eat vanilla to see if it would do anything to her.”

“She’s allergic. Didn’t go over too well.” He finished as Heat and Angel gave him confused looks. “But hey-ya wanna do your drawing in the storage room? I actually want to talk to you, but I don’t want that mutant rabbit calling up without warning.”

“Okay, we can do it there; I’ll just get us to Gantu’s room real quick so you can steal his pens.”

“Alright, lead the way.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finding the aforementioned pens and pencils proved easy given Nosy; the pink experiment instantly sniffing out the ink pens kept in Gantu’s desk drawer (and pointing out a stray tamagotchi) and snatching a stack of printer paper. Nosy led the way back, making sure to close the door behind the three as they entered the storage room. 

“Alright! We should just get started before blubberbutt comes back, like Hammerface said.” Nosy said as he set the stack on the floor. Angel quickly grabbed the topmost sheet and began to scribble on it with a red pen before scowling at the result. “Why doesn’t he have pink?” She complained, sticking her tongue out at the nib, “I wanna pretend I’m drawing with blood.”

“Well, I mean, red is the color of human blood…but lemme guess, you’re thinking of the other kind.”

“Sure am; I wanna scare people but I can’t with this junk.”

Heat stared down at his own paper, unsure of where to start. He’d drawn before in the old lab when he got the chance, but it felt...odd to be doing so again, like his mind was still a little faint from the deactivation. Suppose it was anxiety? Or maybe something else...he closed his eyes in dismay before a sudden thought entered his mind. Maybe he could just start with Angel? Or perhaps someone else from the ship? A few people came to mind, but he decided to go with his first idea. Stealing a glance at an excitedly chattering Angel, Heat began to make a small outline…

“Heat?”

“....”

“Hey, he’s really into that; like, really into it-”

“Okay, Angel, just let me deal with this-hey! Hey Heat, I’m trying to talk to you here!”

“AAH!” Heat reeled back from the paper as an equally startled Nosy and Angel jumped back. “Geez! He was just trying to ask you something, were you really that into it?” Angel asked, flattening her ears to the orange experiment. 

“I…”

It wouldn’t be the first time he’d gotten absorbed into a piece. He wondered how much time had passed before anyone noticed...Heat flushed and dropped his pen on the floor in embarrassment. “S-sorry about that; I get really into finishing and then kinda lose focus…”

“Oh; we were just wondering why you weren’t answering, that was all.” Nosy said, “Should I ask again?”

“Sure; go ahead.”

“Okay, so you already know this, but Hamsterviel’s a bitch, right?”

“Yeah…”

“Well, part of being that is that he’s strict about us matching our blueprints, so-”

“Wait, you mean he’s-” Angel cut in, snorting at the idea. 

“-He is. He’s everything you can think of. It’s actually not that funny right now Angel; I’ve already had to hold stuff for years around him.” Nosy said. “My point is, he paid for our blueprints, so he wants them to be exact; right down to who we love and how we identify. So, if you see him around or if he calls in? Don’t let him know. Distract him or something-anything you can think of.”

“Oh...wait, really?” Heat asked, incredulous at Nosy’s strange explanation, “But everyone’s fine with this stuff, isn’t it, you know...old to think like that?”

“It is, but it’s true; his excuse is that he wants us to match our plans, but it’s a lie.” Nosy said, “Just be careful around him, alright? Normally I wouldn’t say that, but we’re here and not with Lilo and Stitch, so we all have to watch out.”

“But what about Kixx-or 601? Can I still go and see him? Or is Hamsterviel going to panic about that?” Heat asked, pausing a moment to add in some shading, “Because if Hamsterviel’s a homophobe, then I mean…”

“Well, you can and there’s really nothing he can do to stop you, but just to be safe? Tell him you’re getting information or something. He’s stupid that way, so he’ll take the bait. Same to you Angel; I know you like Stitch, but if a female experiment catches your eye, you do whatever you can to protect yourself from ratface.”

“Yeah-I’ll threaten him with these!” Angel exclaimed, thrusting her pen into the air as if it were a sword, “He knows we can all kill him too right?”

“Why do you think he’s not in the ship with us? Just with Hammerface here, he’d be roasted on a spit with an apple in his mouth by now.”

“So...do we have anything to worry about if he notices?” Heat asked, “Because I don’t want him messing anything up with Kixx.”

“If he does, you go to us in the older series. We’ve been dealing with him for a while, so we’ll take care of it if that happens. That or else you make him think he’s imagined it, okay?”

Heat nodded, “Okay, I’ll keep that in mind if he notices.”

It was then that he finished his piece and set it aside, taking another sheet of paper. However, as Heat bent over to make an outline, he glanced up to see something...odd.

Nosy was staring at the finished work with his mouth hanging open, his eyes flitting back and forth from the piece to Heat. Angel was also staring at it in shock, lifting a finger to point at it as she stammered, “H-heat? What the hell? That’s-that’s really good…”

“Hm?” Heat peered over at it; to him, it was his typical work, a drawing of Angel with some Earth blossoms surrounding her-same as a lot of experiments he’d drawn prior. He had a habit of drawing them with things he thought suited them, and here was no exception. 

But to Nosy and Angel, this was a masterpiece; it looked like Heat had taken a photo, not drawn the picture by hand. Everything in the piece was perfectly placed and although there were the remains of outlines underneath, they only served to add depth to the drawing.

“Bitch.” 

Heat furrowed his brow at Angel, who’d walked over and was holding his picture in front of her face. She lowered it and stared at him in bewilderment, “Bitch you drew this thing? You drew me like this?!” 

“Well yeah... is that okay?”

“Fuck yeah it’s okay! I’d let you draw me all day if you’re gonna make stuff like this!” Angel exclaimed, handing the paper back to Heat, “I look awesome in here! Can you do-oh, you already are!”

Nosy gave an awed whistle as he looked down at the outline-this time of himself; his nose and general form were clear as day. Drawing was not typically a talent experiments had; usually they were skilled in crafts and there was the odd experiment who knew embroidery and sewing, but drawing, and by extension painting? That was rare; exceedingly rare. Experiments were usually supposed to destroy, not create, and drawing was the epitome of exactly that, so an experiment with such a skill was almost unheard of if they were not specifically designed for it.

“Heat, how long have you been doing this? Because this ain’t easy, let alone common with us.” He asked the heat experiment, eager to find out where he’d gotten this ability.

“I just got bored once and started doing it. Jumba didn’t like it, but I never stopped.” Heat explained, “I don’t really know how I get all the shapes together though, it’s mostly memorization.”

“Then that’s some damn good memorization Heat, because this is impressive; not many experiments have this as a skill.” Nosy said as Heat filled out the rest of the drawing of him, “Shit, this makes me want to see if we can get art stuff for you-if nothing else, just so you have something to do here. It’d beat stealing from Gantu’s room.”

“Stealing from my room?”

Angel immediately turned and began to throw the remaining pens and paper at Gantu, who stood at the door with his hands on his hips and narrowed eyes, “Fuck off!” She screamed, “Next time bring heat goggles you freaking weirdo, you didn’t even knock!”

“This is my ship and I can do as I please. What are the three of you doing in here?”

Nosy gestured to Heat, “Lemme see that a moment.”

“Does this answer your question?” He asked, holding the drawing up to Gantu, who seemed taken aback at it, “This is all we’ve been doing in here. That and talking about your tamagotchi I found when we raided your room. Next time, keep that thing in a bag for fuck’s sakes.”

An idea suddenly struck Nosy upon watching Gantu put his head in his hands; suppose he could demand art supplies now while he had the chance? It couldn’t hurt. He raised the question. “So, tamagotchi aside, you can see Heat here has a talent for art, right? How would you like to keep us busy here in the ship so we don’t try to leave?”

Gantu glowered down at Nosy in irritation, “I’m not taking you anywhere, if that’s what you’re insinuating by bringing this up.”

“Oh? But don’t you want us to stay and not leave the ship?”

“If it’s such a problem, I’ll just go there myself.”

“Oh yeah, and then what? Get us more red and black pens?” Angel snapped, “I can scream if you want-”

“You’re not going to scream in my ship, 624.”

“Then take us to the art store!”

“No.”

Angel opened her mouth and took a deep breath.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Half an hour later, Gantu was glaring at Angel and standing with all three experiments outside Kokaua’s local art store.

“I’m waiting outside. You three just head in and spend the budget I gave you.” He said stiffly.

Angel gave him a big smile and waved as Nosy led the three into the store, greeting the shopkeeper. He turned back to Angel, “So, you can just browse here; Gantu said these are expensive, so you’re gonna have to choose wisely. You though? I’m gonna have to help you on some of this, okay Heat?” He asked, “It’s Earth stuff, plus Hammerface and Fudgy probably wouldn’t want any fumes in the ship.”

Both younger experiments nodded, Angel power-walking away to the marker section while Heat watched her go. As soon as she was out of view, the heat experiment rubbed his ear and grimaced, “I really don’t think I can hear that scream again, even if it got us here.”

“Eeh, I can see why she does it; screaming coming from Gantu’s ship isn’t a good thing for him.” Nosy said, the two making their way down the aisle, “It’s her way of having some power against him, so it’s loud, but she’s just...doing what she knows best, right?”

“Yeah, you’re right, just wish I could’ve been out of range.” Heat stopped at a section of the aisle, seeing a row of sketchbooks. He picked one out and opened it, running his finger down the first page. Too rough. He set it down and began to inspect the rest in the same way. Nosy watched him curiously. “Any reason for that or are you trying to find something specific?”

“Well…” Heat gestured to the first book he’d found, “That one was too rough and,” He furrowed his brow, trying to find the right words, “And I want something softer than that at least. I dunno.” He shrugged, but Nosy seemed to understand, “So, you basically want something you’re comfortable holding then, am I right?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright, want me to help you look?”

“Okay.”

The two began to go through the rest of the sketchbooks, Nosy handing them off to Heat, who gave the first page a quick poke and set it back if he disliked it. Unfortunately, Heat did this for every book he was handed until the two were almost to the back of the section.

“Geez, nothing? They need better stuff here.” Nosy muttered, staring into the darkness of the last couple of shelves. They were nearly empty, so there were only three books scattered at the far back-too far back for him to reach. 

“Heat, you’re gonna have to do the last three, I can’t reach.”

The orange experiment stuck his head and then his arms inside the shelf, grunting as he struggled to get a hold of the closest book. Heat fell out and onto his behind a moment later, covered in lint and dust and gripping it as tight as he could. He held it up triumphantly, grinning widely and sniffling from the dust. “I checked it while I was in there; this one’s good!”

“Phew-that’s a relief. Lemme have a look at what brand that is.” Nosy said, crouching down to see the cover. “Huh, looks like it’s locally made; that’s cool. But uh…” He gave Heat’s dust-covered head a quick glance, “I’m gonna go up to the front and see about how many of these they get. And get something to clean your head off. You can just go on to the pencils and paints, ‘kay?”

Heat nodded and got up as Nosy made his way back down the aisle and out of sight. He tucked the book under his arm and continued to the next aisle, squinting at the rows of supplies lining the shelves before suddenly glimpsing a familiar pink figure dashing straight for him.

Heat stepped aside and caught Angel with his free hand as she tried to swerve into him, gripping several copic markers and glitter pens in her hands. “So I heard about my yelling as I walked away-”

Heat flinched, “Sorry Angel, it’s just-”

“Nah I get it, everyone gets really mad at me if I do it in front of them. Just tell me next time. Anyways-look what I found!” Angel held out the glitter pens and markers, opening her hand and letting them spill over each other in her palms. “They’re all these really cool pink and blue colors. Aren’t they neat? I got to test out the pens too so I wanna buy them! If I can of course, but still!”

“Huh.” Heat picked up a pen and held it close, its glitter giving off a slight sheen in the dusty light of the store. Angel was right; it was a nice color-it looked similar to that of the flowers surrounding the ship, its name reading “Pink Star”. It kind of suited Angel, to be honest. “These are really nice Angel; what’re you going to do with them?”

“Well, I wanna make a weird book like in those Earth horror films, except like, for us. Us or Hamsterviel. And I want it to be sparkly for dramatics.”

“Okay...I don’t know what you’re talking about, but if you do, then that’s what matters.” Heat took out the sketchbook from under his arm and held it up in front of Angel, “It took a while, but we finally got a sketchbook for me-and well, anyone else who wants to use it that is.”

“Oh, I was wondering why your head was all dusty; the cover’s really pretty.”

The cover of the book was a light tan, a dark brown design of plumerias etched on the lower left-hand side. Being more interested in the feel of the paper, Heat hadn’t actually looked at it until now. Both experiments were admiring the cover as their senior stepped over, gripping a paper towel and a small catalogue he’d taken from the front.

Nosy smiled seeing the cover; it turned out it was the art store’s personal brand; it was locally produced and the reason it’d been thrown to the back was because it was easily bought up, being highly popular for its versatility. But in any case, they would have to go soon-thankfully the store clerk had given him advice on where to find quality pencils, but they would still need to wrap things up. He sidled up to the two and held out the paper towel, which Heat sheepishly took and began to wipe his face with. 

“Glad you’re socializing, but we’ve gotta go soon. Did you find any pencils yet or are you still looking?” He asked the two, only to be met with Angel grinning and shoving a handful of markers and pens in his face. “I did! Heat didn’t though.”

“Angel-”

“Okay-Angel, please. Heat, there’s some mechanical pencils right behind you if you wanna have a look at them.”

Heat turned, seeing Nosy was right; a row of different pencils stretched out behind him. He thought for a moment, then slowly took one out and tested it, making a small mark on the sample paper on the side of the shelf. 

Good enough he supposed. He took the pencil and held it up, signaling to Nosy the three were done with their search. The dull pink experiment nodded, “Great; let’s get out of here before Gantu gets pissy, sounds good?”

“Ih.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Thank you! We’ll definitely be back again!” Nosy called as the three exited the shop to face Gantu, who was watching the waves from the side of the building. “We’re done, here’s all your change back.” He said, handing Gantu the remaining money, “You’re lucky, it came out to 40 bucks-Angel’s pens cost more than Heat’s sketch stuff, so that’s where that comes from.”

“Thanks.” Gantu took back the change, placing it in his pocket. He’d be spending the rest on groceries later on. “Let’s get back; I have to get food for tonight and I can’t exactly disguise you three as dogs, they’re not allowed in the Earth grocery store.”

“Right; plus these two want to check out their new stuff, right?”

“Yep; I got pink pens and I wanna use ‘em.” Angel said, for once not caring she was going back to the ship. 

As the four headed back, Angel fell into stride with Heat, gesturing for his book. The three experiments had been made to walk in front of Gantu so he didn’t lose sight of them, but Nosy brought up the rear of them, keeping a watchful eye on the larger alien. Things were quiet since Nosy was so focused on Gantu, so the two youngest of the group could sense an air of awkwardness. 

Heat raised an eyebrow, but nonetheless handed his friend the book. Angel opened it up to the first page and took out a glitter pen-a silver one. She wrote in it, watching Gantu out of the corner of her eye. When she was finished, she handed the book back, pointing to it excitedly. Heat looked down at it, reading in Turian.

_Want to sneak out tomorrow?_

Heat wordlessly gestured for another pen, writing in his answer and tipping the book to Angel.

_Yeah. What time?_

“After he leaves.” She mouthed, gesturing back to Gantu with her right antenna. Heat smiled and nodded, closing the book as the ship’s outline came into view through the trees of the forest...


	7. The First Meeting

**Chapter 7: The First Meeting**

“‘Kay, ready?”

“Yeah.”

“Hold hands and rush right?”

“Yep.”

“Sweet.”

The two experiments stuck close behind Gantu as he made his way to the ship’s entrance, sighing at what would most certainly be another day of failure to catch any experiments. He adjusted the capture containers on his back before opening the ship’s entryway and stepping out into the clearing.

However, as Gantu turned to close the ship, he stopped dead in his tracks upon seeing a mortified Heat and very disappointed Angel, frozen in place like Earth deer in car headlights and staring at him with buggy eyes from the side of the ship’s door. They’d clearly been trying to sneak out; it was obvious from Angel’s face and how sheepish Heat looked...and the fact that Heat’s leg was sticking out of the ship in an attempt to jump down. Gantu sighed in exasperation.

“I regret taking you to that damn art store. Get back inside, both of you.” 

“We don’t wanna.”

“Should I just pick you up and place you back in then?”

“If you do we’ll bite you.” Angel pointed to Heat, “He has a very big mouth, are you sure about that?”

Gantu suppressed a frustrated groan as he put his head in his hands. Angel often did this to him and there’d been a great many incidents where she actually had either bitten him or escaped, which had led to him discovering her in strange places around the clearing and town. Once he’d even managed to find her inside the WALL of a building scheduled for demolition, to say nothing of the time she’d gotten herself locked out of the ship and had subsequently broken back inside in the middle of the night.

But on the flip side, there was Heat...or not, he was a very blatant spy in his own words even if he was able to get along with Angel. Both would definitely try to find free experiments, or worse-Lilo and Stitch, and his job depended on keeping them on the ship, not with Lilo or the blue trog...

However, there was the fact that Heat was energy-based and loved Earth’s sunshine, and Angel was always bored and wanted endless stimulation he couldn’t deliver. This could work out for him in a way; time outside would keep the two calm and by extension compliant-inside the ship. Suppose he could try letting them loose and see where it would lead…

“Alright,” He took his head out of his hands and crossed them, “fine. You can leave, but I’m buying Heat a phone and I want you back by nightfall, or I come looking for you. Do we have a deal?”

Angel gave a sly grin and held her hand up to Gantu in a mock salute, “Yes sir, very good sir.”

“Do not address me like that 624. Now get out before I change my mind. I’m not pulling you out of any more walls.”

“You’re just mad ‘cause I got plaster all over you.”

“Yes, yes in fact I am, now go. And stay with Heat at all times.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Earth’s nature remained unchanging around the ship. Since humans almost never ventured into the area due to the lack of trails and dense surrounding forest, time seemed frozen there. Hard to believe since the place was rather close to the Pelekai household, being only a few miles from Jumba and Pleakley’s ship.

Angel flattened her ears and squinted into the darkness of the forest as the two made their way past the stream. There were almost no paths leading out other than the single trail Hammerface had found over a week earlier, so finding, much less making one, was difficult, especially for her given her frequent use of super speed to get around the island.

“Okay, I’m gonna just run to the beach gym like I promised you; take my hand.” She outstretched hers to Heat, but he was instantly hesitant, taking a step back and furrowing his brow. “...Yeah, can we just walk there?” 

Angel giggled, “You look like Slushy when you do that; I’m not gonna kill you if that’s what you’re thinking, I’ve done it with a few other 6 series and it turned out fine-I’ll make sure to keep your head in mind.”

“You know I can’t run fast Angel, I’m going to just fly out behind you if you do this.”

“Yeah, that’s why I want you to take my hand. You’re a snail.”

“Ooooh, bad move.” Heat gave her a sly grin, “I’m telling Slimy about that comment.”

“Well sorry, but Slimer’s not here. There’s just you. And me. And we’re stalling, so now we’re gonna need to fast travel.” 

With that, Angel quickly grabbed Heat’s hand and set off down the rabbit trail, quickly escalating into a run despite the orange experiment’s protests. A couple of minutes later, she skidded to a sudden halt, causing Heat to almost crash into her. Just as he predicted, he’d ended up flying out behind her in those few minutes and was now breathless, nearly slumping into her as he gasped for air.

“Here we are!” Angel’s voice cut into Heat’s wheezing. He couldn’t respond at first, doubling over and coughing as he tried to regain composure. “You.” He pointed a shaking finger at her, “You shit-don’t ever do that to me again-god.” He coughed and straightened up, taking a deep breath and dizzyingly surveying the new view.

They were secluded in the undergrowth, but beyond the trees, Heat could see a vast beach surrounded by forest with purplish-blue mountains in the distance. A busy roadside stretched along the beginning of the sand, filled with snack stands, rentals, Earth vehicles, and shops. Humans effortlessly filed in between all of these, setting up small camps on the sand, taking food from the stands, and hurriedly jogging down a path at the edge of the sand all in near seamless tandem.

Strangely, he felt himself stiffening at the sight, as if he knew the place. The image of a far-off dream came to mind as he instinctively turned and peered over at the beach gym, located near them at the beginning of the sand. He gulped and pulled back upon seeing two familiar shapes on a bench.

“I can’t do this.”

Angel squinted in the same direction, but had the opposite reaction. She groaned and reached for his hand to guide him over, but Heat quickly snatched it away, “What did I say? You’re not doing that to me again.”

“Okay, then I’ll just grab your shoulders instead since you’re too much of a clown to go out.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, how’s the day been? Beaten any of your records here yet?”

Sparky grinned up at Kixx as the latter sat on one of the benches on the outskirts of the gym, watching boxing practice. He often visited the 6-series as well as others on the island to see how they were adjusting to Earth life; things had been complicated for him when he’d settled in, so he’d taken it upon himself to check up once in a while. 

“Fine. Deforestator couldn’t come today, so I took a break. I don’t wanna mess up any-well-any more humans I guess.” Kixx said, “They like it better when other experiments come anyways, so I just hung around the beach.”

“Ah, that’s too bad.” Sparky’s ears drooped slightly; Kixx was easily one of the more restless experiments on the island. A mutation he’d been given as part of his programming had rendered him so powerful that only other experiments could hope to fight him, and even Stitch had trouble catching Kixx. In a way, Sparky couldn’t help but worry that Kixx was bored or sad thanks to these constraints; he tended to give off the impression whenever he visited, even if he said nothing about it.

“Well,” He countered, “you still got a break day, right? That’s cool, plus you’re away from humans, which is...kind of a good thing given how they can be. What with the purple pig comments and all.”

“Yeah, you’re right about that.”

The two were interrupted by shouting coming from the bushes. High pitched shouting at that, and both voices sounded incredibly familiar to the experiments. Kixx flattened his ears, “Spoke too soon Sparky, this ain’t a break day anymore.”

A moment later, none other than Angel-and Heat-walked out of the bushes. Or rather-Heat did against his will, as Angel had both his shoulders in an iron grip and was marching him over to both. Sparky could see her claws digging into Heat’s fur as he was walked up to them, his face turning a dark magenta.

“HI! NEW PERSON!” Angel shouted at the two as she walked up, “WE HAVE FOUR NEW PEOPLE AT THE SHIP NOW AND I TOOK ONE OUT! YOU’RE GOING TO LIKE HIM OR ELSE!”

Sparky could see the embarrassment on Heat’s face as he put his head in his hands, Angel stepping out from behind him with a wide grin stretched across her own. The new experiment honestly looked like he was ready to puke from the attention; he completely refused to look at them and shrunk into himself as Angel pointed to him, “This is Heat! He’s like me and worked for Gantu and then stopped because he found out he was a dickbag.”

“Uh, Angel, we already kind of know,” Sparky said, “It’s a long story.”

“Oh-cool! See, they know you, so everything’s good here!” Angel said as Heat peeked up from his facepalm, somehow managing to turn even pinker. Sparky put his hand out to calm her, “Let him talk Angel. Heat? This’ll sound weird, but we do know you-or we know your clones, so you’re fine. If anything I’m actually more concerned about how you’re doing. That cloning stuff’s scary if you’re energy-based.”

“O-oh, that…” The orange experiment took his head out of his hands and faced them, tugging on his antenna, “That’s been okay I guess, but now I know why I thought this place was familiar.” He offered the two a smile, but Sparky could tell Heat was still uncomfortable. He glanced around at the three 6-series; the feeling of awkwardness brought on by Angel had set in fast and both Heat and Kixx were now glancing off and away to the side while Angel peered around the gym. His antenna flattened, but straightened right back up as he got an idea for how to change the mood.

“You guys hungry by any chance?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Okay! This is better, right?” Sparky set the trays on the picnic table where the four had gathered. Thankfully, food always worked with 5 and 6 series no matter who they were or how much they’d previously eaten, and these three were no exception. Angel in particular instantly grabbed a piece of the fried fish and chips he’d brought over, tearing it off and swallowing it whole. 

“...Oh boy, Angel why don’t you get some napkins? I forgot to get some on my way back over.” 

Angel nodded and dashed away from the table, a piece of fried fish batter still sticking out of her mouth. Sparky shook his head as he watched her go; Angel meant well, but as usual, was too loud and hyperactive for most people to deal with. Giving her something to do was almost a requirement if Heat was to have any input in their conversation. 

He turned back towards the other two. “Anyways! We never really got a proper intro from you, so how are things over there? Hopefully not… you know…? Gantu’s backed off right?”

“Yeah, he has for the most part. It’s a little weird actually because we don’t really see him around. ...Then again Hammerface and Nosy are there and they don’t like him, so that’s probably the reason.”

“Hammerface and Nosy?”

“033 and 199.”

“Oh nice! That’s great you’ve got support over there.”

“Is he still mad about me kicking his ass by the way?”

Heat looked over at Kixx in slight surprise; much like him, the larger experiment had withdrawn into himself over Angel’s overzealous behavior and had all but faded from the conversation, so his sudden question brought it to a halt.

“Uhhh…” Heat put his hand to the back of his head, averting his eyes from Kixx; he’d been trying to the whole time to be honest. Angel hadn’t been the cause of the awkward introduction, it’d been him; he couldn’t help it when he’d first seen him. Kixx was well...cute. “Well-”

“Wait.” He said as Kixx’s question dawned on him, “You beat up Gantu?”

The purple experiment grinned and leaned back in his seat, “Sure did; I hear from Angel he gets mad at my commercials over it-speaking of which-did you see any while you were in the ship? ‘Cause if you did, then you’d probably know.”

“Ah...well, I’ve seen your stuff, but it was always when Gantu wasn’t around.” Heat poked at a stray fry that had fallen out of the fish and chips Sparky had brought to the table. “...Wanna tell me more about beating him up though? I-if that’s okay-”

“Is it okay? Hell yeah it’s okay, it’s the funniest thing that happened to me since I got here!” Kixx exclaimed, slamming his fist down on the bench as he leaned forward-he felt a small crack begin in the wood, but didn’t care, immediately attempting to launch into it. However, before he could start, Angel ran back to the table, making sure to hit Sparky on the back of his head with a plastic knife, “You almost made me miss the story!”

“Geez, sorry about that, and haven’t you heard it nearly eight times now?”

“Yeah well-I wanna hear it again. And the first three times was when I turned you evil, so they don’t count.” Angel huffed and sat down beside Heat and an exasperated Kixx. “...Anyways,” The purple experiment continued after a small scowl towards her, “I got activated by some tourists’ water bottle, so I found them, kicked their asses, found a couple more people before Lilo and Stitch, and then Gantu showed up. Long story short,” He took the largest of the fried fish filets out of the basket and held it up. “His leg? Well…” Kixx bent the filet downwards so that small cracks formed in the batter. “At least that’s what I’d like to think anyways; I basically threw him around by it.”

“But either way,” He popped the filet into his mouth and swallowed it whole, much like Angel, “He totally deserved what I did to him after his latest stunts with you two. Hate to bring that back, but it does make me happy to know I couldn’t have done it to a better person.” 

“You can say that again-actually, can you try to do that again?! Please try doing that again, I’ll be your forever friend if you do!” Angel rambled on before Heat held up a hand to quiet her, “Once is enough.”

“Waddaya mean only once?!”

“Okay, Angel? I’m the one who gets to decide how many times I kick the crap out of Blubberbutt, so I’ll be the judge of that.” Kixx said, crossing his two upper arms, “Do gotta agree though, I should track him down and beat him up after the deal with you and Heat.”

“Thanks-I know I’m not Hamsterviel, but you can do that whenever you want.” Heat joked, “Just as long as he doesn’t have any blasters, he’s easy.”

“He totally is; he’s practically cardboard without it and yet he wanted to fight hand-to-hand when he first met me. But actually,” Kixx paused, “you mentioned you’ve seen my commercials; how do those go down over there besides the whole tantrumming thing?”

“They’re our favorites! Well, you and Houdini and Sprout at the fairgrounds, but you piss Gantu off the most, so everyone really likes you over there!” Angel exclaimed, “We also like seeing how Lilo and Stitch are doing, so you give us an idea of how that’s going just by showing up.”

“I do? Cool; I’ll see if I can put down a few more ideas for commercials then.” 

It was just then when the four experiments heard a loud thumping noise coming in their specific direction. Sparky stiffened and whipped around, narrowing his eyes and charging up. Heat and Angel went quiet in front of Kixx, who turned to snarl at Gantu as he walked up, holding something in his palm.

Gantu took one look at the scene in front of him and groaned, putting his hand to his head. Of course they’d instantly go looking for free experiments, and just his luck-they’d picked the two worst of the bunch. Sparky already despised him for various reasons, notably kidnapping Jumba and being partially responsible for the pods being scattered, and Kixx? Well…

If there was anyone who hated Gantu by now, it was Kixx; the second oldest 6-series had become incredibly protective of the others after his rehabilitation, whether they were harmless like 254 or a living black hole like 606, and furthermore, his brainwashing of the experiment using Angel had turned his initial disgust towards him into loathing. Kixx never openly talked about hating him, but it was always apparent on his face whenever Gantu encountered him on the odd experiment hunt.

This would have to be quick; he slowly held out his hand to reveal a small Earth flip phone within its center, “Heat, take this and don’t let Angel have it under any circumstances. I already programmed it, so you don’t have to do anything except call me.”

“That’s nice; next time just get him one of those leashes they have for human children. It’s about the same shit.” Sparky growled. Heat got up and began to walk towards Gantu, but Kixx put his hand out to stop him. “Drop your crap first; I don’t trust you.”

“Fine.” Gantu quickly removed his blaster from its holster and set it on the sand just out of arm’s reach. He crouched down and held the phone out in front of him as far as he could. Kixx narrowed his eyes, but let Heat walk past to take it from in between Gantu’s fingers, “Uhh...thanks?” He asked, but got no response, as Gantu wordlessly took his blaster, straightened up, and walked away.

Despite the new-and admittedly large-distance between himself and Gantu, Heat found himself hunching up slightly as a lump grew in his throat. This was worse than when he was pretending to care about him and the others, it was just as Sparky had said; a leash so that he could keep tabs on them…

His growing hurt was interrupted by Kixx, who strode over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Come on Heat, he’s not worth it. Let’s just get back to the table.”

Heat gave a small nod and made his way back, followed by Kixx. Angel, seeing how downcast her friend had become over Gantu’s sudden appearance, frowned and grabbed the phone out of his hands, opening it up and scrolling through it. 

“What a stupid fuck; he only put our ship number in this.” Before anyone could stop her, Angel selected the number and set the phone down on the table. Gantu picked up almost immediately.

“...What?”

“Can I tell you something?”

“No.”

“Too bad. You have small di-”

The phone clicked off before she could finish, leaving Angel furiously screaming at it and Sparky and Kixx struggling to hold in laughter. Gantu turned the corner and stamped right back up to the table, “Give the phone to Heat Angel. Now. I bought it for him and he’s the only one who can use it.”

“I’m sorry…” Heat drawled in mock sympathy, causing Gantu to glower at him. Kixx returned it. “Get the hell out of here, you pile of fish intestines. You gave him the phone already, so leave.”

“Stay out of this 601.” Gantu snapped.

Big mistake. Kixx stood right up and began to spin his upper two arms-slowly, but the message was clear. “Care to expand on that? Because no one here wants to see you, boring failure.”

Gantu stiffened and quickly exited, giving Kixx a final glare before turning the corner and disappearing-this time for good. 

“We got to hear that a lot when it came to you four, figured that’d scare him off.” Kixx explained, sitting back down, “He hates it because it’s true.”

“Yeah…” Heat echoed, “but he still, well...he named me and everything, so…”

“I know I joked about you beating him up and all, but it still sucks it had to be this way.” He finished sadly. He picked at the edge of the paper of the basket holding the bottom layer of fries with two fingers as he did so. Kixx flattened his ears as he watched the nervous tic. Gantu was horrible, and Heat knew this, but the influence he had on him was strong even with Heat knowing the truth. Kixx frowned, there had to be some way to lift the mood again…

“Look...forget him for now okay? He left and you and Angel are out of the ship right now. Besides, you never told us about yourself and all we know are your clones, so if you want, wanna have a go at that?”

The diminutive experiment ( in comparison to him) looked up shyly and began to tug at his antenna again, “Well...I got back into drawing yesterday and I did get to leave. He took me to an art store-well-me and Angel and Nosy. I hadn’t done it-i-in a while, so it felt...good? Good to do it again and all.”

“He’s really good at it too,” Angel added, “He drew me and Nosy and it looked like we were in a mirror, right Heat?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that...”

“A mirror? That’s-you know that’s seriously rare, right? There’s not many of us who can do that Heat, so that’s awesome you can. Me on the other hand? I can barely even draw a square.” 

Kixx sounded in awe at Heat’s art ability, which seemed to push him past his embarrassment. He looked up at Kixx in newfound excitement, this time over finally having something he could share with the fighting experiment. “Really?”

“Yeah, you don’t need my input on it you know; I’m stating a fact.” Kixx placed his upper pair of arms behind his head and smiled at Heat, “If you’re not programmed for that stuff, you struggle, period. So you being good at that? That’s impressive.”

“You could bring some of your art over if you want; I’d be interested in seeing it if you’re up to showing it off anytime soon.” Kixx finished to a now flustered but very happy Heat, who nodded so quickly his ears flopped up and down in the air. Kixx snorted before something caught his eye. He shot a curious glance towards Sparky, who’d become engrossed in Heat’s new phone-or Gantu’s-or whoever it really belonged to.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

“Hm? Oh-agh, sorry about that; I fixed up your phone so Gantu’s not programming it anymore, and I uh...might’ve added something new to it.” Sparky explained, turning the phone towards Heat, ”See this little triangle icon near the bottom? Go ahead and select it.”

“Okay…” Heat did as Sparky said, the icon opening up to reveal two phone numbers. The contacts read “X” and “Y”. He looked to Sparky in confusion as to what this could be. 

“Those are our phone numbers; I’m “Y” and Kixx is “X”. Didn’t wanna make it too obvious, so I went ahead and used the last letters of our names.” Sparky explained, “I want you to have some contacts outside the ship, plus I know Hammer and Nosy’ll appreciate the help. This by the way?” He tapped the triangle symbol near the bottom of the screen, “This is not your contacts; this is a separate list Gantu hopefully won’t notice.”

“Lemme see that,” Kixx said, picking the phone up between thumb and forefinger and squinting at it before setting it down on the table, “Nevermind, you got the number right, but yeah-I agree. Let me know if Gantu needs his ass kicked again, okay?”

“Yeah!” Angel punched the air triumphantly at the small victory as Heat gave a sheepish nod and gently took the phone back, smiling at the two-now familiar-contacts on the screen. He wasn’t thinking about it as a win, it didn’t seem that way to him. This was a sign of two new friendships...

“Anyways, I gotta go, so I’m gonna use that thing over there. Some human came out with paper stuck to their pants, so I know those are the crappers.” Angel said. Before anyone could stop her, she got down from the bench and was already nearly halfway...to one of the beach toilets. Kixx turned to see where she was headed, and let out a gasp, “Angel no! Not those! Uh-crap, lemme just go get her; you can’t use those in the middle of the day-ANGEL! GET BACK HERE!” He shouted, running after her and leaving Sparky and Heat at the table.

“...Okay then, I’m going to throw this away before Angel tries eating the paper.” Sparky said, crumpling up the remains of the meal and watching it rock back and forth in the center of the basket, “She’s not going to kill you anytime soon, right? I had to send her off just to let you get a word in.”

“Nah, I don’t think she wil-”

Heat paused. Strange, it sounded like he’d been right in the middle of a sentence when he’d cut himself off. Sparky looked up at his face...and gasped, feeling a chill run up his spine.

This...this was bad. He knew this condition, knew its symptoms, but he had never seen it in person until now; he’d been diligent in avoiding it ever since his creation, and Jumba had made sure to properly charge molecules thanks to this affliction and others like it.

Undercharges. Glitches. Drainage. It was all the same. All related...

Heat’s face had gone blank, his eyes had turned a glowing, sickly green and were far removed from the typical black common in experiments. Faint yellow veins spread throughout his body; Sparky could see them starting from his eyes, ending in his ears, trailing down his neck and some were larger than others...Sparky didn’t want to see any more, but he knew this mapping would include Heat’s heart. When it came to them-energy based beings-it always did.

“Oh. Oh no…” Sparky whispered in horror. This had to be a result of the cloning; there was no way Jumba would mess up with this type of experiment. Like him, Heat was directly tied to his molecular charge.

And just like him, if Heat’s charge capacity ever dropped below a certain level, he could very well die…

Sparky gulped and tried to regain his composure; Heat would be wondering what had happened for him to suddenly change moods, and he...well, he couldn’t allow that at this time, Heat would be terrified and panic if he told him right then and there. He would have to find Hammerface and Nosy-or Fibber, or someone, this had to be fixed and fast…

“Ngh…” Heat shook his head and the glowing veins and green eyes disappeared just as quickly as they’d come on, leaving him slightly confused as he rubbed the side of his head, “Sorry, Sparky? Is it possible to like...daydream suddenly when you’re talking? Because I think I just did that.”

“I uh, for us with energy powers, it can sometimes happen…” Sparky flattened his ears before continuing on, “But uh-you know, when you can, share that number with the older experiments okay? It’s still not the best thing to have happen to you, Plus I want to be able to talk to Hammerface about some stuff.”

Heat nodded, “Yeah, I’ll tell them when I get back when I get the chance.”

“Say, Sparky, did you know Hammerface or Nosy back in the lab? No reason, I’m just wondering in case you already do since you mentioned them a lot..” Heat asked the electric experiment, quickly turning the subject. Sparky paused at the swift change before answering. “Yeah, I knew both; Hammerface and I were more ah...what’s the word? Vitriolic you could say. Doesn’t mean we hated each other or couldn’t work together, but we were just really different. I got along more with Nosy. Speaking of which…”

He was going to have to tell Clip about Hammerface; she’d somehow managed to avoid the cloning drama and didn’t know where he was. She was worried about him; she’d heard enough about the incident to know he was involved, but didn’t yet know he was captured. 

Or maybe she didn’t want to find out.

Nonetheless, Clip would have to be told either way, especially when it came to the more powerful experiments in the ship. He turned to Heat, deciding to push the idea a bit. 

“You know about Clip? 177? I’m going to let her know about your situation and see if she can help with anything, alright?”

“Okay, who’s Clip exactly?”

“Ah, well…” Hammerface must’ve not told Heat about Clip. It would make sense, the two had had a secret marriage, but it was an open one among them: everyone knew except Jumba and Hamsterviel for a variety of reasons, most of them pertaining to Hamsterviel. He paused before elaborating as best he could. “Clip’s an old friend; Hammerface knows her personally, so you should talk to him about her. He knows her better than I do.”

“Sure, I’ll do that then.”

A thoroughly exasperated Kixx and Angel made their way back to the table, the purple experiment leading her by the hand. “She opened. The door. To one of those.” He pointed towards the beach restroom, “I had to pull her away real quick given what was in there. You use the shop toilets if you have to go, you hear me?” He finished to Angel, who was for once disgusted, “Yeah, fine. Why do humans leave things like that in there anyway? It stunk, whatever it was.”

“I don’t know, and I don’t want to know either. Tourists are gross.” 

“Ugh, they are. Anyways, it’s getting late; I should get going and take a nap. That lighthouse won’t charge itself and I need to be awake for that.” Sparky said, “We know you two came out of the bushes, but there’s a different route leading out of here.” He looked to Kixx, “You up to walking them back to the forest?”

Kixx nodded, but Heat and Angel were confused. “Walk us back? Why?” Angel asked, crossing her arms.

“We don’t trust Gantu.”

“Oh.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thankfully for Sparky and Kixx, Angel and Heat seemed to know the city route back; Angel through her travels around the island, Heat because of his cloning. The sun was beginning to sink in the sky as the group found the edge of the forest leading to Gantu’s ship. A slight breeze rustled the branches of the trees, the occasional leaf tumbling across the forest path. Maybe it was just Sparky, but the place looked lonelier than usual with their send-off of the two captured experiments.

“Alright, you two are telling Hammerface about Clip and what happened today right? And you’re hiding that phone Gantu gave you.”

“Yep.”

“Good. And...be safe okay? If you see anything, tell us, or whoever you can get a hold of.”

“Yeah, we’ll try. And thanks for the lunch Sparky.” Heat said. Angel smirked and reached for his hand again, but Heat swatted it away, “But-wait actually, do you guys want the ship number?”

“Agh-shit, I forgot about that! Hand that thing over to Kixx for a sec.”

“What? Why?”

“Just do it, I have a weird ability that’ll help here.” Kixx took the phone and opened up the contacts, squinting at the ship number on the screen for a moment. “A’ight, here’s it back. I’m done.”

“What’d you do?” 

Kixx placed a finger to the side of his head, “Photographic memory. It was supposed to help with memorizing fighting moves and keeping track of opponents, but it applies to pretty much everything else. That’ll still be fresh by the time I head back, so I can just type it out when I get home.”

“Whoa, cool!” Angel exclaimed, earning a toothy grin from the fighting experiment. “Hey, anything to make Gantu fail, right?”

Heat smiled and felt a bit of returning flush at hearing this; it was incredible Kixx could do such a thing, and even more so that he cared so much about the two of them and their situation. “That’s really amazing Kixx, thanks so much.”

“Yeah sure; it’s the least I could do. Lemme know if anything comes up, same as Sparky.”

“We will, thanks for everything.” Heat said, waving to the two as he lead Angel down the path and back towards the ship. Sparky and Kixx watched them go, listening to Angel’s excited rambling as the two eventually disappeared into the forest. 

“So, you’re sending me that number and I’m talking to Clip.” Sparky said, “Something happened today while you and Angel were gone that I need to tell Hammerface about.”

Kixx looked down at him in confusion, “Huh, what was it?”

“I...I can’t say right now. Just make sure to get me that number, alright?”

“Oh, okay.” Kixx frowned at Sparky; it wasn’t like him to be this secretive, usually he was pretty open in letting people know when there was something wrong, so this was strange. 

“...Is it about the cloning thing?” 

“Well, yeah, yeah it is, but it’s something I have to talk to Jumba and Hammerface about first, alright?” Sparky reassured the larger experiment, “I’m gonna go now, so you have the day to yourself again.”

“‘Kay, see you around then.” Kixx said, nodding to Sparky as the latter took off into the air, flying in the direction of the lighthouse. He gulped and shot a glance down the path where Heat and Angel had disappeared, flattening his ears in worry. 

What...had Sparky seen while he was away?


	8. Static

**Chapter 8: Static**

It’d only been a day since he’d seen Heat and Angel, but he still felt tense at the silence from their end. Sparky frowned to himself as he poured a cup of coffee from the lighthouse’s kitchen, watching the waves shimmer and sparkle in the Kauai sunrise. He truthfully didn’t need to stay up the whole night for his job, but he did have an irregular sleep schedule. For him, having insomnia and being a light sleeper in general, Sparky always found it hard to balance his sleep with his work. 

Luckily for him, Earth had coffee. Unlike certain Kweltikwanian drinks…

He shot a glance towards his landline, then headed over, downing the rest of his coffee as he did so; the thing was full of messages. Maybe from Heat? Hopefully? It’d only been a day, but after what Sparky had seen, every passing hour felt like a year.

Strangely, the calls had all come in at 5:30 to 5:57 in the morning. Sparky squinted at the number, then gasped, quickly calling the number back upon reading out the unmistakable ship number he’d been given by Kixx.

A familiar, monotonous voice picked up on the other end.

“Hello? 221?”

“33? I’m here, what’s going on?”

Hammerface sounded as cold as ever, but Sparky could hear a slight twinge of fear within his voice. Unsurprising; he must be trying to avoid Gantu to call him. He had to wonder how early days got started in the ship.

“I heard about Heat and Angel running into you and Kixx. And about 177. I have to thank you for not telling them given Angel’s mouth. I believe you wanted to talk, so now’s a good time to do so; Gantu just left for the day.”

“I-yeah, yeah I did. It’s about Heat. You notice anything kind of...off?”

“No, not really. Why do you ask?”

“Does he have...issues with daydreaming?”

Silence on the other end. Sparky gulped at it before hearing Hammerface once more. “...Yes; he seems to space out at times. He told me about doing so when he was talking to you in fact.”

“...Right; I know-or I have an idea of what that is. I told him to go to you over it.”

“Tell me something.”

“Yeah?”

“Is this because you’re like him?”

Sparky paused, “...It is. Look; I’m sorry- I couldn’t tell Heat because I was worried he’d panic. I’m electrical, not heat, so I don’t know how this affects him.”

“Just…” He thought for a moment, “just watch him okay? That spacing out is because something’s wrong with his molecular charge. We’re directly tied to it, so we have to watch it more than others.”

“...So you mean it’s…”

“I don’t know Hammerface. I hope it’s not. I’m visiting Jumba today to see what we can do.”

“Alright. I’ll watch him. Thanks for letting me know Sparky.”

“Yeah; stay safe over there.”

Hammerface muttered a goodbye and hung up, leaving Sparky alone in the kitchen in a pool of morning light. He flattened his ears as he watched the sun rise further over the Kauai mountains. 

Today was going to be busy…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first stop of the day was Clip’s place. Sparky lighted down in front of the hair salon, wrinkling his nose at the pungent smell of hair products coming from inside. Seeing Clip through the window, he flew up and waved towards her, catching her attention. She raised an eyebrow and scowled before quickly whipping through the rest of her customers, instantly giving them their desired haircuts. 

“Pay up at the front desk everyone!” She called out as she opened the door, “Ugh.” She slumped against it upon seeing Sparky standing outside, “Any reason why I had to tear through everyone like that? This stuff takes time you know.”

“Well, I mean. 033 exists.”

At this, Clip straightened up immediately, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow in apprehension. “Go on.”

“I just got done calling him; it’s hard given...you know.”

“I’m aware. I never thought I’d have Gantu’s ship number, but now I do. I almost feel like calling him up just to tell him he’s a failure, but I don’t want to give this salon away.” Clip squeezed her eyes shut for a moment before opening them, giving the ground a dull glare as to 033’s situation. Out of all the things to have possibly happened to him, she hadn’t suspected capture. She hadn’t even considered it as an option for him…

“Hey, Clip? 1-77?”

“Yeah, I’m still listening.”

“Right. I need your help; it’s about one of the experiments in the ship. The one I met yesterday.”

“609 right? The three-eyed little goober Angel dragged over?”

“Yeah, him. Something’s wrong with him and I need your help to well-to get _him_ some help.”

“What do you mean? Did Dupe’s cloning fuck with him?” Clip had heard about the bizarre needs of energy beings like Sparky and Heat, but not enough to know all their specific health risks and requirements. However, the implication Heat was potentially sick put her on edge; if Sparky was concerned, something wasn’t right.

Sparky flattened his ears as his antenna drooped, “I don’t know. I think it did; Jumba wouldn’t mess up with charge capacity and...” He sighed, “You know glitches? Where your charge drops exponentially? Well, Heat’s got something in the same vein. I saw it yesterday.”

Clip grimaced, “Oh no-that means we have to move fast then. Is it bad like a glitch or-?”

“I didn’t feel any heat coming off him, so it isn’t a glitch. Either way, it’s still undercharged molecules and I’m seeing Jumba today to find out what the hell’s going on.”

“I’m coming with you then; Hammerface can’t be alone in watching him.” Clip held up a single claw and stepped back inside, rushing out a moment later and shouting a thank-you to the other staff. “Alright-said it was a medical thing, so I’m free. It kind of is too, so it’s not a lie.” 

“Right, let’s head over; thank god it’s a weekday. Not sure how Lilo would react to why we’re heading over.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The light blue and red-roofed house soon came into view, both experiments zipping their way over to the porch. Clip knocked on the door, waving up at Nani as she opened it. “Huh, hey there um...Sparky and Clip right?” She asked awkwardly, “What brings you here?”

“Jumba-we have to see him right away. It’s kind of serious.” Clip explained, “It’s about one of the experiments on Gantu’s ship.” 

Nani seemed to have an idea of who the two were referring to; she arched her brows and seemed to tense up. “Which one? I heard about four they were worried about. Is it one of them?”

“One or...all four really.” 

“Ah geez. I’ll go up and tell him to come downstairs. You two can just make yourselves at home, try not to chew any cords if you can help it Sparky.” 

“Yeah, sorry about that...incident last time.”

Nani nodded and ushered the two inside, sprinting up the stairs to get their creator. A few moments later, Jumba strode into the room, a worried look on his face. “Yes 221 and 177? What is being this about Gantu’s experiments?”

Clip gestured to Sparky, who stepped forward and gulped, “It’s Heat-the experiment who looks like he’s got three eyes. I saw him yesterday and, well...his charge decreased. He shorted out in front of me.”

The color drained from Jumba’s face and he backed up, plopping down on the couch and putting his head in his hands. “Oh-oh no. How many times did this happen?”

“Only once; it lasted a couple of seconds, but it was pronounced. His eyes even went green.”

“...Right.” Jumba dragged his hand down his face; this was disastrous. 609 was in need of immediate medical help. Back when he’d first merged him, he’d made sure to check for the signs of undercharged molecules; glowing eyes, glowing veins, irregular energy release, the list went on. But it hadn’t come, and so he’d thought 609 was in the clear. Obviously, according to 221, this was not the case. 609 needed this corrected-and fast.

“I assume 609 is able to leave the ship at times? Is this being why you saw him yesterday?”

“They might’ve snuck out-he was with Angel, but Gantu seemed to know they were out, so I guess so.”

“Then that is an upside. Only thing is getting 609 into a position to charge him-and getting his DNA for diagnosis.”

“What’s this about the little monster I’m hearing?” Pleakey’s voice rang out as the one-eyed alien stole into the room, curiously peering around the door. He tensed up upon seeing Jumba, Sparky, and Clip’s expressions, realizing the seriousness of the discussion. “I...is everything alright? I know we just lost that 199, but I heard about one of the others when I was passing by and it sounded pretty bad, whatever it was.”

“It is being such Pleakley. 609 is in trouble. Thankfully Little Girl and 626 are being out on a walk, I know both would be very upset to hear this.” Jumba sighed and tried to think as to what could be done. 609 being able to leave was good to hear, but there was no way Hamsterviel would let him treat the experiment. Worse, if he found out he was ill, he would most certainly try to take advantage of him; 609 was one of the most powerful 6-series and thus an important asset to Hamsterviel. There was no telling what he would do to get 609 to do his bidding should he find out…

But maybe...there was Gantu, who had his finances to worry about. If he were to find his experiments were unhealthy, there may be a chance he would willingly give 609 to him for treatment. Such a truce was risky, but it also wasn’t impossible to imagine. Jumba’s four eyes went to Sparky and Clip as the beginnings of a plan formed in his mind.

“221; I want to know if there is being any other experiments you encountered from the ship. Because there are several there who may be of assistance if we are to be pulling this off. As for you 177, it is being happy coincidence you have come; 609 has been designed to have thick fur, so a DNA sample will be easier to obtain with you in the picture.”

Sparky seemed to lighten up upon hearing his question, straightening up and nodding, “Ih-033! I got off the phone with him just this morning and I told him to keep an eye on Heat. 199’s also there, but I haven’t spoken to him yet.”

Jumba breathed a sigh of relief. Of course 033 would take immediate action; his programming may have made him a nag, but it had also made him reliable in a situation like this. “That is being good to hear, 221. I will need you to contact him as soon as possible to put together a plan for 609. Or really...all of them; after this, I want DNA from all four involved in the cloning. I may also be having to contact Gantu himself if worst comes to worst; he might give 609 over if he hears us out.”

“I’ll take care of the fur when he can give it over. Both him and 033.” Clip said, “So, Sparky keeps talking with 033 and 609, I get the DNA, and you do the diagnoses, right?” 

“Is being correct 177; 544 and 617 do not have fur, so I will be asking for cheek cell samples instead. Not to worry-I will have 033 put them in baggies for transport.” Jumba said, seeing Clip screw up her face at the idea. “But that is the plan; sounds good 221?”

Sparky nodded in agreement, “Yeah-I’ll tell Kixx to hand over the ship number as well, just so you can call Gantu if you end up having to.”

“Good work 221, hopefully we can catch this in time.” 

“Well, that’s great you three have a plan, but is there anything I can do? The little monster is part of our ohana after all.” Pleakley said, “I was involved in the cloning craziness, so I’d like to help.”

“I’d like to do something as well. It sounds like this one has what Stitch had.” Nani said, crossing her arms at the edge of the room, “I don’t want a repeat after seeing how badly Stitch’s glitch hurt him, so if there’s anything I can do, let me know.”

“Is being helpful of both of you to say that,” Jumba said, “I will let you know ahead of time should 609 be taken to the house; he’s calm unlike 626, but he’s as capable of destruction as any other of my experiments. If he’s brought here, I will be needing assistance with caring for him.”

“Oh boy; definitely noted-I’ll have a look at his powers and then experiment-proof the house when he does.” Nani said, “Good to hear he’s not another blue wrecking ball, at least not intentionally.” 

“No, I believe you will be liking him, Bigger Girl; 609 is being laidback for an experiment. Unusual, but I designed him to be such for his powers, so the extent of his destructive instincts is to simply heat his surroundings.” Jumba explained, “In any case, we have a plan now, so I will be expecting you to come back with information as soon as you can, 221.”

The yellow experiment nodded, “I’ll try calling him; it’s hard with Gantu around, but I’ll go for it.”

“Good. Is being settled then. I will be printing out 609’s entry in the computer for you, Bigger Girl. You and Pleakley will be needing it for taking care of him.” Jumba stood up as Sparky and Clip began to make their way towards the door, the conversation over and the beginnings of a plan now formed. Sparky waved a goodbye as Clip held the door open, having it returned by a cautiously optimistic Pleakley and Nani as they stepped out. 

Sparky crossed his arms in apprehension and gazed out at the Pelekai’s front yard, watching the trees rustle in a slight breeze. He could hear Lilo and Stitch in the distance, talking excitedly amongst themselves as they made their way back to the house. 

“Let’s go; they’ll tell them what’s going on and I need a break.” Clip’s high voice came from his left as Sparky looked down at her. 

“Yeah. I’ll fly you back to work.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After seeing Clip off, Sparky found himself back in his lighthouse, watching the clock tick towards 2:30 p.m and the shadows of the lighthouse shifting across the floor ever so slowly. He’d need to sleep soon, in time for his nightly recharge of the light and generator, but this time, he found it hard to do so; Heat was ill, and if he was sick, then there was a chance the other three may be as well, including Hammerface. And with Hammerface and his programming…

Sparky sighed and made his way to his room, getting under his covers. He’d moved the landline to his bedside; not normally something he’d do, but it was necessary now due to how serious this situation was. He checked the messages, then got under the covers and burrowed into the sheets. 

Sure, they had a plan, but he couldn’t help but worry...


	9. WBC Counts

**Chapter 9: WBC Counts**

“Get out and stay out, you miserable feeler-nosed trog!” Gantu’s voice rose over the roar of the ship’s hatch as he slammed it shut behind experiment 010, locking the green alien outside. In the lower level, four early experiments listened intently, Hammerface’s antenna pricking upwards at the lessening vibrations of 010’s footsteps. He breathed a sigh of relief before turning to the others. “He’s gone, thank the gods.”

“I can’t believe Jumba.” Fibber signed furiously, “He never fixed 010; this is crazy-and now Gantu’s thrown him out too? Hopefully there’s not a freaking body count when Lilo and Stitch find him.” He crossed his arms and let out a frustrated beep at Jumba’s incompetence. 

“Yeah; he’s away from us, but hopefully Jumba’s able to fix him now instead of later.” Nosy added, narrowing his eyes towards the upper level as Gantu and 625 continued to bicker, “That programming he has is so fucked up; no wonder he was an early deactivation.”

Fudgy shuddered, “It’s scary; he doesn’t even look like he knows what he’s doing. I feel bad, but we can’t let him around us like this.”

“And then there was what he did to us four…” Hammerface crossed his arms and shuddered, thinking back to 010’s words…or word-the green experiment had said nothing but the word “dirty”...to them. As a matter of fact, he’d been sent to Hamsterviel to isolate him for following Hammerface and the other three around, pointing at them, and saying nothing but that word, over and over again.

To make matters worse, 010 had seemed almost urgent, near grabbing onto Hammerface as Gantu had thrown him into the teleportation chamber. It scared him; everything about 010 scared him, but after talking with Sparky? Hearing what Sparky had to say about Heat shorting out? The thought occurred as to whether 010 had sensed something was wrong with them…

“Yeah, that was screwed up. Poor Heat and Thresher-he really scared them with that crap. Not that Plasmoid probably feels any better.” Nosy sighed, “Let’s just meet up with the others, try to forget...whatever this was.”

The others nodded, Hammerface leading the way to the other experiments…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The younger experiments were gathered in the entertainment center, huddled around Heat, Plasmoid, and Angel; the former two were caught up in an argument over Heat’s drawing of Plasmoid while Angel snacked on a bag of gummy bears, exchanging the occasional exasperated glance with Thresher. 

“I don’t have a nose wrinkle, what the hell! And if I do, it wouldn’t be that deep!” 

“Yeah you do Plasmoid-I was staring at it since you were created. And you’re the one who asked me to draw you in the first place; I don’t know what you expected.”

Plasmoid opened his mouth for another retort, but paused upon seeing the older experiments walk in, Hammerface shaking his head in exasperation at their argument. “Oh yeah, Mr. Clean’s gone now right? Tell me Gantu threw him out.”

“He did, though he more tossed him right outside and he walked off on his own.” Hammerface sighed, “Are the three of you alright? 010 was deactivated before even I was created, so I don’t have any experience dealing with him.”

“We’re fine I guess,” Plasmoid said, “but man...I don’t think I wanna see him again. I know it’s his programming, but…” He grimaced and stuck his tongue out, “Eugh; I hope Jumba fixes him up.”

“I hope so too...also hope he doesn’t kill anyone before they find him.” Nosy sighed. 010 had been created and deactivated before any of them; his programming was complex for a 0-series, but a fatal flaw within it had rendered him so sensitive to germ detection he’d tried to kill Jumba, sensing the bacteria within him. In person, that programming was horrifying to behold and in seeing 010’s behavior, Nosy couldn’t help but shoot a concerned glance towards Hammerface. Like 010, he had a specific code himself-a code Nosy hoped had been removed, but deep down knew wasn’t.

“So, 010 aside, I see there’s another-”

A loud groan interrupted the group of experiments, followed by the unmistakable rupturing of machinery. Heat and Thresher winced as Angel let out a small scream and clapped her hands over her ears. “Hey-HEY! Everyone calm down!” Fudgy exclaimed, throwing out a hand. Hammerface and Nosy echoed her as the four tried to rein in the startled experiments. 

Gantu could be heard swearing and rushing towards the ship’s incinerator. Hammerface and the others exchanged worried glances as they heard thudding and more cursing, followed by a defeated sigh. 

“Well,” Gantu said as he entered the room where the experiments were, “The incinerator’s down; something’s gotten stuck in the pipes. Wouldn’t be surprised if it was 010’s doing.”

Everyone looked to each other worryingly, “So, we’re just taking out the trash from now on?” Nosy asked, crossing his arms, ”And what about the garbage disposal and disintegration tank? Are those done or not?”

“No, those are fine; but until then? Everyone pulls their own weight until I get that thing fixed.”

“So why aren’t you asking 625 this? He’s the one who leaves his crap everywhere.” Angel asked irritably, crossing her arms at Gantu and popping another gummy into her mouth.

“You know why 624.” 

Angel wrinkled her nose. “Fine, we’ll do it.”

Gantu nodded and strode off, leaving the 16 experiments alone in the room. Hammerface sucked in a nervous breath, “Right; we’re using those Earth trash bags until this is fixed. I’m made for housework, but I still expect you in the later series to help with this, especially when we have...625 around.” He finished with an irritated sigh, knowing the gold experiment was so lazy there’d be a trash fort in the kitchen within an hour.

The younger series nodded hesitantly, a low murmur rising throughout the group as things slowly began to return to normal…

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The day seemed to drift forward from that moment; most did since there was so little to do in the ship, but this one, despite the excitement of a broken incinerator, seemed near endless. Summertime on Kauai meant a constant AC and fans throughout the ship, which left them all cold and irritable. Heat squinted out the window, watching a small Earth bird pecking at something on the ground below. According to Nosy, Earth birds tended to be allegories for freedom, and maybe it was the timing and situation, but he could see why.

That was before the smell hit him. 

A powerful stench of grease and old food stung the air as someone swore behind him. Heat put a hand over his nose and stood up to see Plasmoid dashing off into the corner under a shelf, a pained look on his face. “What the fuck is that?! And where’s it coming from?” He yelped, wincing as he balled himself up and lit his tail. 

Heat paused a moment and furrowed his brow; wasn’t Plasmoid supposed to have red plasma? Or was the smell affecting him too? He shook off the thought before answering-maybe he’d just seen wrong. 

“I dunno; it’s awful, whatever it is…” 

Plasmoid growled and squeezed his eyes shut; whatever this was, it’d immediately triggered a painful headache in him...it was odd, he’d never had a reaction like this to smell, even one as bad as this. But nevertheless, whatever was causing this, he needed to get out of here-and fast. “I’m getting Hammerface, this is bullshit.”

“...You saw that right?” Thresher asked as Plasmoid scuttled out of the room, casting Heat a worried glance. Heat nodded and gulped; so it hadn’t been his imagination. Plasmoid’s tail really had lit up a powerful green in contrast to his usual red, explosive blasts. 

“What do you think that was about?” He asked, only for the taller experiment to shrug and turn towards the door at the sound of approaching footsteps. Hammerface stomped into the room in anger a few moments later, followed by an equally upset Fibber and Amnesio, “I can’t believe this; how long has it been? Two hours? Unbelievable.” He jerked his head in the direction of the ship’s elevator before turning back to Heat and Thresher, trying to calm himself. “No one goes into the main level, obviously. 625’s done...something up there and whatever it is, it smells like he’s not doing what Gantu told us to do. Gave Plasmoid a migraine.” 

“You two should probably head into the back of the ship until that clears up; if it did that to Plasmoid, I don’t trust it.” Anmesio added, “It’d be better to avoid Gantu too when he finds it out.”

“Too late…” Hammerface sighed as the beginnings of an argument could be heard above. “Look, just head into the back okay? We’ll head over after you.”

“Okay…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heat and Thresher stuck close to each other as they made their way to the back room; something was wrong to make Plasmoid have such a reaction. Heat thought back to when he’d spaced out in front of Sparky. Sparky had tried to keep him in the dark, but in truth he guessed they’d lied to each other; before he’d paused, a bright flash of green obscured his vision. He felt a twinge of fear within his stomach at the idea that something wasn’t right; he’d seen that flash before-back when he’d been cloned. Whatever it meant, it couldn’t mean anything good...

“Are you okay…?” Thresher’s voice sounded out above him, snapping Heat out of his thoughts. Heat scratched the back of his head as he glanced up at Thresher’s eyestalks, “Yeah I’m fine, just thinking about what we saw…” He paused for a moment, “Have you seen..other stuff around here by any chance? Like with me or-?”

Thresher’s eyestalks immediately tilted downwards. It happened in a split second, but Heat still caught it; the thought that maybe Thresher just didn’t want to say echoed in his mind as the tall experiment quickly shook his head, flushing, “No-no, I haven’t. Not aside from that…”

“I’m gonna go ahead, I think that smell’s coming to the hallway.” Thresher turned and power-walked as fast as he could away from Heat, stepping into the other room and leaving him alone in the hallway. 

Heat watched him do so, crossing his arms and tugging at his antenna; maybe that hadn’t been a good time to ask. He hadn’t seen Thresher so uncomfortable before; it was obvious he knew something, but didn’t want to say. Heat furrowed his brow and stepped in after Thresher as Hammerface and Amnesio could be heard making their way towards the room. Maybe he’d just ask later; Plasmoid hadn’t noticed anything and Thresher probably felt awkward about it. He should probably just wait until the incinerator was fixed...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nighttime on the ship would be here soon; the sun was already making the beginning of its long descent towards the treeline. Hammerface paced back and forth among the experiments in the lower level; some had filed out into adjacent rooms, but many had stayed in the back, either napping, watching the outdoors, or leafing through a few old magazines mixed in with the storage. 

Gantu had been cleaning up above, that he was certain; it was of course, mostly because of his own personal anger, not because he’d noticed anything was wrong with them. Hammerface narrowed his eyes at the thought before he heard something...strange above him. Something familiar.

The sound of a knock on the ship’s door, followed by someone running off into the woods. 

A joyous shout of “625, look-010’s back!” woke up a dozing Plasmoid, who groaned in annoyance at hearing of the cleaning experiment’s return, “Oh for the love of god, not again…” Plasmoid turned over and closed his eyes, curling back into a ball and flattening his antenna. “First a goddamn headache and now that freak’s back…”

Angel however, narrowed her eyes and pricked her ears, opening her mouth...right as a loud scream sounded from above the ship. 

Plasmoid bolted up this time as the rest of the experiments came rushing into the room from other parts of the lower level, “FUCK, YOU! YOU PIECE OF BLITZNAK!” He jumped and screamed towards the ceiling where a loud commotion could be heard. Hammerface grimaced as Gantu could be heard swearing and coming down the stairs, stomping straight for their room. 

“Those little brats, they KNEW he would do this!” Gantu threw 010 into the middle of the experiments, causing the younger ones to scatter and the older to snarl at him. Gantu wasn’t moved, “THAT is now yours to deal with; I don’t care if he sucks one of you into his trunk, it’ll be one less mouth to feed as far as I’m concerned. You can deal with him now.” 

Without another word, he turned and stormed off, heading back towards the elevator. Hammerface swore after him as he turned to glare down 010 with the others; this may have been someone with uncontrollable programming, but they had to do what they could in order to protect the later series. 

However, 010 wasn’t interested in them anymore, instead peering curiously around the room. He seemed sad at seeing everyone in defensive positions, his antenna drooping as he frowned at them. 

“D-Dirty-” He coughed and held a hand to his head, a lintball dropping out of his trunk and floating to the ground in front of the four older experiments. 

Nosy stared at it in confusion. “What the fuck…?” He muttered; that was new, and definitely not something he would expect. Maybe Jumba had reprogrammed 010 after all? It was possible. 

He felt Hammerface tense up as 010 groaned and rubbed his head, squeezing his eyes shut before words started to form. 

“I-I need...d-does anyone have any water around? Any distilled water…?”

010’s voice was weak, far different from the joyous tone he’d taken prior. His mannerisms were also different; his brush tail was low to the ground and his ears were flattened against the sides of his head. The other five stood in shock at 010’s words-the first they’d heard that wasn’t the singular “dirty”. It was a few moments before Stamen regained his senses, “Yeah, sure; I’ll go and get some-it’s not gonna be distilled though, sorry.” 

Hammerface placed a hand on Fibber and Nosy each as Stamen ran from the room, trying to draw them behind him as he and Fudgy narrowed their eyes at the now reprogrammed 010, who stared back in worry. He flattened his antenna and hugged himself, watching them with sad eyes. “I...I know why you’re doing that you know. I’m really sorry…even if that doesn’t mean much.”

The four looked to each other before Nosy brushed Hammerface’s hand off of him, taking a tentative step forward. “So...you’re reprogrammed now? No more cleaning drive?” 

010 shook his head, “No, now I actually want to do the opposite. I don’t think he took the time to change my appearance to match though…”

“That’s good though; you look better than you did when we first met you.” Fudgy said as Fibber gave a reassuring nod behind her, “You just need to rest from the alteration, that’s all.” 

010 nodded before wincing, quickly downing the water brought over by Stamen. He rubbed an eye and took a deep breath, “Is there anywhere I can lay down? Gantu throwing me like that messed me up.”

“Yeah, there’s plenty of rooms; we’ll show you to ours, right guys?” Fudgy asked, the other four nodding in silent agreement. 010 watched sheepishly before putting his hand behind his head, “Thank you.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hammerface took the lead as the now six early experiments made their way to the experiments’ bedroom, making sure to avoid a still furious Gantu. It was easy to see why; the upper level was a mess. Soot, grime, and dust were smeared all across the walls and floor, and garbage lay in haphazard piles around shelves and doors. 010 kept glancing around and putting his head in his hands, not wanting to look at the debris.

Once they were inside the (thankfully clean) room, Fibber went to the cabinet where the blankets resided, casting a furtive look to 010 as the rest of the experiments surrounded him. 

“Okay, this is it.” Nosy said, surveying the room, “There’s blankets in the cabinet next to the table if you want ‘em.”

“Thanks; er…?”

“Oh right! I’m 199; name’s Nosy. It’s nice to meet you now that that programming’s out of your system.” 

“It is; we always heard about you, but you were deactivated before any of us were made.” Fudgy added, “I’m Fudgy by the way-119. And the guys behind you are Hammerface, Fibber, and Stamen-33, 32, and 103.”

010 smiled, “Oh cool, so Jumba’s plans did go through after all! I remember when he first showed me Hammerface’s blueprints; you came out exactly how you were drawn on there.” He gestured to Hammerface and gave a proud grin at the obvious success of the tool experiment.

Hammerface winced slightly at 010’s words, “Uh-yeah, thanks, but talking about that stuff died out early 2-series...just-so you know 010.” 

“Oh! Sorry; I’m just happy you came out well. Name’s Felix now, by the way.”

“It’s fine, I got it, it’s just-you know, it’s because we’re all early here.” Hammerface felt himself relax slightly at Felix’s small talk, even if it was outdated. It really looked as though his reprogramming had gone through and helped him not obsess over dirt and cleanliness. 

But another thought crossed his mind as the conversation continued; the noise he’d heard before Felix had been thrown in. It’d sounded exactly like what he’d heard when Nosy had been taken back. Despite the tone, he wanted to ask and upon glancing around, he could see there was a definite air of tension around the group. Obviously, he hadn’t been the only one to hear Felix’s return.

“Um, hey...Felix? Is it okay if I ask you something?” He questioned the green experiment, “It’s got to do with you coming here again if you’re comfortable with that.”

“Oh, yeah-but I’d like some time to lay down first if that’s okay with you, plus there’s something I wanna talk to you about too.” Felix said, giving the gray experiment a smile. “On that note though, I should probably get some rest, especially after the reprogramming and getting tossed around.”

“Ah-yeah, right.” Hammerface said, returning the smile, “It was nice to meet you properly.”

“Yeah, it was nice to get to talk with you for a bit.” Fudgy added, “We’re going to head out to give you some space. That unless you’d like some of us around given Gantu.” 

“I’d like that; I don’t want him coming around me after-you know.”

“That makes sense.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hammerface looked over to the door of the room, listening to the soft echoes of conversation emanating from the kitchen. Fudgy and the others must’ve told everyone to stay away for the time being, because no one had come to check on himself, Fibber, or Felix thus far. 

“33?”

Felix’s tired voice sounded out from the still air of the room. Hammerface and Fibber looked to each other, then quickly turned towards him; Felix looked like he’d just woken up, rubbing an eye as he blearily looked out at the two. 

“Hey, you feeling better Felix?” Fibber signed, only to be given a confused glance from the cleaning experiment, “Oh-right. Hammerface?”

Hammerface nodded and translated for Felix, the eldest 0-series perking up and smiling, “Oh yeah-I’m better, just kinda tired. I just wanted to talk to Hammerface a bit if that’s alright with you.” 

Fibber nodded and gave a thumbs-up to the experiment before signing to Hammerface. “I’m going to be outside, okay?”

“Alright, you do that Fib.” Hammerface said, walking to Felix and following him into the room, the green experiment closing the door behind the two.

However, once they were inside, Felix immediately dropped his cheery demeanor. He glanced around guiltily before speaking in a low voice. 

“I didn’t want to say this in front of anyone, but are you...okay?” 

“Am I okay? Why do you ask?” Hammerface said, raising an eyebrow to the older experiment, who furrowed his brow, “I can’t really sense it now, but back when I was in my old programming, the reason I kept coming after you four was because I could sense something...off. Like you were all sick or something.”

“I do know what it was with you though,” He continued, fixing Hammerface with a hard stare, “Low white blood cells; all I smelled was pink. I know that’s not Jumba’s doing, so what happened?”

Hammerface was taken aback, “How can you sense that?”

“I’m a cleaning experiment; I can sense things like that. And there’s something off with all of you. If I hadn’t been so focused on cleaning, I would’ve told you sooner. It’s why I wouldn’t leave you alone earlier today.”

Hammerface gulped before staring at Felix, now completely dropping his own questions. Felix could tell they’d been cloned, even if he didn’t know what exactly had caused them to be so weak. And that meant something even worse; that the four really hadn’t escaped the cloning incident unscathed. He lowered his voice before answering, “We were cloned; I’m trying to find out what’s going on with one of the others-one’s shorting out according to a later experiment and-”

“They’re _shorting out_?!” Felix hissed, narrowing his eyes, “That’s a glitch, oh dear gods-” 

“Felix, not so loud-I know, I’m scared for them, they’re completely different than us. It’s only because they snuck out that we even know this.”

“Look,” He glanced around the room once more, “I’m trying to find out what’s wrong with us, okay? It’s just…” Hammerface stared at the ground a moment, “It’s just been hard to deal with.” 

“Hey; this is really serious. I want to help too.” 

Hammerface looked up to see Felix place his hand on his shoulder, quite like he did for Heat. It felt very strange. “I never got the chance to know anyone past 019, so I want to make that up. And if that means helping you find out what’s going on with yourselves, then I’d like to use my powers to help.” 

Hammerface stared at him before nodding in silent agreement, “Thanks Felix…”

Felix frowned at him; Hammerface was clearly used to doing everything on his own and seeing this made him feel guilty once again. He pushed the feeling down and smiled at the gray experiment, who now seemed small in the lights of the ship, “You’re welcome; let me in on what I can do, okay?” 

“Okay…” Hammerface reddened and glanced at the ground, “So...now that you’re up, do you feel well enough to come out?

“Yeah, I’m fully awake now.” 

“Then let’s head out.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Felix hung back as Hammerface and Fibber led him out into the kitchen; both were arguing about something, but he couldn’t tell what it was. This whole ordeal was upsetting; not his capture, but what he’d smelled on Hammerface and those other experiments. So much anxiety and fear and something...else.

He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but the singular smell bothered him; it stunk like a cross between burnt flesh and a ship tire, and it was coming from not one, but two of the four. Now that he was thinking about it, seen the owners, he had a hunch as to what it could be.

Glitching molecules.


	10. Broken Plans

**Chapter 10: Broken Plans**

A few days after Felix’s addition to the ship found Heat ducking for cover around the corner of the ship’s machinery. Gantu was spending the day in the ship and he had to check up on his phone in its hiding place; Sparky had been calling periodically for Hammerface about something, but wouldn’t say what. It was weird; the subject of his and Sparky’s talks seemed like a touchy subject for Hammerface, even though Heat was sure they were speaking about him.

He rummaged through the pile of blankets and pillowcase to grab at the small device in the experiments’ room, frowning to himself. It didn’t feel right that the two weren’t including him in something that was about him, especially given how Sparky had reacted to the strange green flash that obscured his vision that day at the beach. Something very wrong was going on with him and he deserved to know.

Heat’s thoughts were interrupted by the phone abruptly ringing in his hand, Sparky’s number flashing on the light blue screen. Heat jumped and fumbled with the lid before hesitantly pressing the call button and holding it up to his ear; this time, hopefully, he’d try to push for some answers…

“Hey, Heat? You somewhere Fishface can’t find you?” Sparky’s voice sounded out from the phone. He was urgent as usual; he was always such until he made sure Heat was somewhere safe and away from Gantu.

“No-hold on.” Heat glanced around before quickly diving behind the furthermost chair, making sure he was far from the door and out of the hearing range of Gantu. “Okay, I can talk now, so what’s going on?”

“Hammerface again; I also heard 010’s been around, so I want to talk about that too.”

“Oh; okay…” Heat felt a small pang of disappointment well up in his chest at the words; sure, his chance wasn’t over just yet, but it still felt wrong...

Sparky seemed to catch this from Heat’s tone; he heard him sigh on the other end before continuing, “Look, Heat, what we’re talking about is serious and...I dunno, I don’t want you to be afraid.” 

“But I think I can handle it, it’s just...why are you leaving us in the later series out? It’s not fair if you’re talking about us.”

“I…”

“This is about me, isn’t it? Well, I saw the green flash on the beach that day, so there’s no point in hiding anything. I know something’s going on, so why am I being left out?”

“Okay-Heat? My reasoning is just what I said before, okay? We’re not normal experiments, and you conduct heat, not electricity, so I’m trying to figure out what’s going on myself.”

“Look,” He paused, hearing silence from the other end, “I’m sorry, alright? I should’ve let you in earlier; I promise I’ll tell you-and if I don’t, then I’ll tell Hammerface to tell you, okay? Is that a deal?”

“...Heat?”

More silence.

Sparky stared at the landline before asking again-then heard something he wished he hadn’t.

“I’m sorry, Heat can’t come to the phone anymore; but at least I now have your number, so it wasn’t a complete waste in letting him out.” Gantu’s sarcastic voice crawled out from the receiver.

“I’m not scared of you, you fucking whale. Where’s Heat?” He was lying-this was a total disaster. Sparky’s head spun as he tried to think up a way to twist the situation back to his-and the experiments’-favor and fast. 

“That’s none of your business, 221, now what are you trying to gain from these? Heat’s not coming with the little Earth girl and 626, so what’s the point to this?”

Sparky paused, hearing a panicked Heat in the background; he sounded like he was struggling to get to the phone as Sparky could hear him crying to have it back. He had to think, think...

“Okay, you want my reason? Yeah?” He began, glowering at the phone; he had no idea what on Earth he was doing right now, but he had to try something at least…

“Yes. Do go on.”

“Fine. Cloning incident.”

“What about the cloning incident?”

“You think you got off free from that? Or how’s this, you really think it hasn’t affected those four you grabbed from the junk shop?”

And there it was. He almost immediately sensed Gantu’s discomfort through the phone as the former Galactic Federation captain began to stutter.

“I-I don’t what Heat told you but-”

“Oh Heat didn’t need to tell you anything, I saw it for myself and he knows it. Hammerface told me things too.”

Satisfaction rose up inside him upon hearing a long pause from the other end.

He finally heard Gantu sigh from the phone. “What do you want from me?”

“I dunno, don’t tell ratface? That’s about it.”

“Fine.”

“You’ll also give Heat his phone back. And I’m coming over.”

“Whatever.”

Sparky could hear Gantu muttering something and giving the phone back to a sniffling Heat, whose voice cracked as he tried to compose himself. “I-I’m so sorry-I thought I was out of reach…”

“No, no it’s not your fault Heat, I should’ve told you so this wouldn’t happen. Just hang in there and wait for me to come over, alright?”

“Okay…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heat stared at the puddle he’d positioned himself above as the group of nine experiments and one alien waited outside for Sparky. He watched as silt swirled in the pool, gold flecks shimmering in the sunlight. His twin had once said these flecks were just pyrite in their few interactions back at the lab, but he guessed she hadn’t seen them outside a lab setting; they looked pretty even surrounded by mud and bits of smashed up plants...unlike the icy stare at his back from a certain shark-like alien.

His thoughts were interrupted by Angel, who poked his face with a leaf she’d picked up from the edge of the clearing. “You okay? Everyone heard the crying from ya back there, so, you know…”

He shook his head and she groaned, plopping herself down on the rock next to him...and splashing water all over both of them in the process. 

“Angel! Come on…” Heat evaporated the drops from his fur before crossing his arms at the song experiment. Angel shrugged, “Sorry, blubberbutt was staring at you so I had to break the tension. But...what is this Sparky’s coming over for? And Hammerface’s acting really weird.” She pointed at the gray experiment, who was pacing back and forth, his expression as ice-cold as Gantu’s. He turned to raise an eyebrow at the two for a moment before continuing in his path, Heat and Angel exchanging a glance as they watched him. 

“I...well,-”

“Well, something’s...something’s going on. That I can say,” Felix cut in, “It’s-well, it’s mostly for these four to say if they want to, I only just came into this so I don’t have much to offer.” 

“Well I do.” Plasmoid countered, “There was my migraine the other day to 625’s crap food, I know Thresher’s had some stuff with his knee, and Heat, well-I haven’t seen anything, but Hammerface and Sparky are acting fucking weird about it like you said.”

“With me, I dunno what it is.” Heat gazed at the water, watching the silt swirl around in the pool, “Everything turns green and stuff...happens when that’s a thing. Sparky looked really freaked out from it and I don’t know why…”

“Turns green? Oh shit-Heat I’ve been seeing that too! Not the green, but from you-I always thought it was the TV when it happened; you know, like how human eyes can turn red on camera.” Now Angel looked similar to Sparky and even Plasmoid was staring at him in apprehension.

Gantu quickly interrupted before any of the experiments could continue, “That’s enough; I want you all to be quiet until 221 appears. I didn’t lock up the ship to hear a drama show between trogs.”

“You created this show, you miserable toad.” Fudgy snapped, “This is entirely because you didn’t read about 344’s powers.”

“I wish you were 611.”

“And I wish you would fuck back off into space for good, you piece of-”

‘Yeah, okay, I think that’s enough.” A yellow streak shot into view, cutting off the growing argument between Gantu and Fudgy...followed by none other than Clip and Jumba, the latter carrying several small bags. 

Jumba eyed Gantu suspiciously as Sparky lighted down in front of him and Clip, who stared stonily off to the side of the clearing, “Did not be expecting to see you this soon, but I suppose now is being better than never. I assume we aren’t being watched, correct?”

Gantu stared at the group of free experiments and their creator stiffly, “...Yes.” 

“Good. I’m sure you are being aware you have messed up. Big time. And now we must find out the extent of the damage you have done.” Jumba turned and nodded to Clip, who stepped forward and unsheathed her claws, “Okay, Heat, ugh...33? I’m gonna slice off some hair. It’s weird, but it’s for analysis, so don’t be too freaked out by it.” 

Hammerface refused to move, instead gesturing to Heat to walk towards the hairball experiment. He hesitated, but was met with a warm smile from Clip as she outstretched her hand and slightly sheathed said claws, “Hey, I don’t bite-I can tell you’ve got long fur like me, so it’s going to be easy to get a sample, alright? Just head over so I can move on to Hammer.” 

“Okay…” Heat quietly made his way over to the smaller experiment, who took his wrist and carefully held up a piece of fur, slicing it off and dropping it in one of the bags. 

Clip watched Heat trudge off, head slightly hanging; she couldn’t stand to see this, it was terrible-Heat shouldn’t be worrying about anything like this, much less having to deal with it...that was before a familiar gray shape solemnly stepped into view off to her right.

He hadn’t changed, and yet he looked like he’d aged a million years; she swore she could see some white hairs sticking out around his face. Hammerface was still young, even if he was one of the older experiments; she felt a pang in her throat and tried forcing it down, seeing he was doing much the same…

...But both of them were failing. They always did, but not usually in front of everyone else. 

Hammerface wordlessly stood next to her and held out his arm. She hesitated, then took his wrist and squeezed his hand, causing him to jerk back, eyes watering. “Don’t-they’re looking.”

“I know.” Her words sounded so distant she barely recognized them as hers, placing his sample in the bag and quickly turning back towards the others, seeing as they were finishing up themselves, Jumba patting a nervous Thresher on the back of the head as he deposited the final swab into a bag. “Alright, not to worry 544, is being done and over with. We will be getting to the bottom of this by tonight, okay?” 

The purple experiment nodded, eyestalks watching the ground as always. Jumba’s face fell slightly upon seeing he’d failed to comfort him. He sighed and stood up, nodding to the two free experiments, “221 and 177? You can leave when you want, I will be going back to the ship and analyzing these immediately.” 

“Yeah, we’ll be right behind you.” Sparky said, waving to his creator as he walked out of the clearing in the direction of the house. “Aaaannnddd before I head out, here, for you.” He turned and glared at Gantu, bringing up his middle finger, “Don’t even try tracking me to my lighthouse if you know what’s good for you. And quit manhandling everyone you caught; I didn’t like what I heard when you took the phone.” 

“You don’t live here 221.”

“No, but I sure can pay you a visit, can I?”

Gantu glowered at Sparky, then Clip. It was odd the two had stayed behind for this long, and 177’s slip of grasping Hammerface’s hand had given away something...interesting about the two of them. Not that he’d let it show right now-he needed an opening to trap Hammerface, but that action-and Sparky’s apparent concern for Heat, could mean an opportunity to gain back some control in this situation. He crossed his arms at Sparky in irritation, “Alright, fine, I’m not going to pick them up anymore. Now get out.” 

Clip and Sparky took their leave, the former muttering a curse at him as they did so. He turned his gaze towards the captured experiments, who were clustering together off to the side of the clearing. 

“We’re heading back inside. Now.” He said, unlocking the door to the ship, “I’m going out later to get your results, and I don’t want to hear any complaints about it.” 

“And what makes you say that? What are you going to do with them once you get ‘em?”

“That’ll depend on your behavior.” 

“Oh really? I would’ve thought you gave a shit about your job.”

Gantu turned back and for the first time since he’d gotten him, smiled at Hammerface. Not a kind smile, it felt like a cross between a smirk and a grimace, and he felt a twinge of satisfaction as he saw the tool experiment finally-and rightfully-take a nervous step back from him. 

“Wouldn’t want to disappoint 177, would you?”


	11. Results

**Chapter 11: Results**

Nightfall on the ship came slowly. Too slowly. Hammerface stared at the setting sun, not caring it was stinging his eyes to do so. Nosy sat next to him, ears flattened against his head as he watched the clouds begin to glow a bright orange in the fading light. 

Things...didn’t look so good. Nosy had zero idea why Clip had slipped up the way she did in the clearing, but Gantu had evidently seen it. And from that smirk he’d given Hammerface, Nosy knew he didn’t plan on doing anything good with whatever he’d gotten from their interaction. 

And then there were the other three. It was evident they were lost on all of this and didn’t know what was going to be in store for them. And, of course, everyone was anxious for what was to come in regards to the tests being run...

“Hey, Hammerface? 033?”

No answer; Hammerface was still glued to the sun outside the window. Too much so-Nosy could hear odd, strained breaths coming from his friend. He grimaced, then shook Hammerface hard by the shoulder, causing him to let out a panicked gasp, “DON’T!” 

“I will when I start hearing that of all things, quit staring at the sun and calm the hell down! We have to think about what we’re gonna do, not melt our eyeballs out.”

Hammerface hung his head, feeling his eyes burn as afterimages danced in his vision. “It’s just...every single little detail about me-a-about us, about her-it’s all at risk after what I saw today…”

“I know; we just...the only thing we can do from here on in is to be more careful about this…” 

Nosy turned back to watch the last of the sun sink beneath the trees, leaving a brilliant orange and purple tint in the clouds above. Usually, sunsets on Earth were beautiful, but this one felt ominous; the purple quickly deepening to a hazy dark blue. He couldn’t help but notice the stars seemed scarce tonight, most being blotted out by approaching mist and clouds. He felt a chill go up his spine at the sight and quickly looked back towards Hammerface.

“Wanna get away from here? You’ve been sitting a while now.”

The gray experiment hesitated before giving a small nod to his friend, “Yeah, maybe it’ll help…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The final few rays of light were disappearing below the trees as Heat quietly huddled near the ship’s entrance. Gantu had wanted to “talk” to him here-at least he guessed, he’d made the mock quotes as he did so...But given it was him who’d been the cause of the rushed and ruined plans today, he couldn’t help but think the talk was more of an insult session. 

His fears were soon answered as he heard the noise of fast-approaching footsteps. Heat winced as Gantu made his way to the door of the ship, a sour look on his face and his phone held fast in his hand. A call had come through and he suspected it was from Jumba given Gantu’s reaction to it. A quick glare from the shark-like alien sent him backing off into a corner of the ship, Gantu slipping the phone into his pocket as he turned to face him.

“Well Heat, thanks for the events of today. I’m sure you’re aware of our new rules for your phone-and the ship’s, so I won’t be going over them. I am, however, happy that something was found out in regards to the cloning, so I won’t be losing my job for the time being. Which means your fat behind gets to eat.”

He pressed the button to open the ship and stepped out, giving the thermal experiment a sneer as he turned back to close it. “I’ll be back soon. Be glad your stupidity turned in your favor this time around.”

“Asshole.” Angel hissed from behind Heat, the two watching Gantu storm off into the forest. She’d come up fast behind him and while he couldn’t see her, he could definitely sense the anger radiating off of her. “That was shitty even for him. Are you okay?”

Heat shook his head, tears welling up in his eyes. Gantu was right-this entire situation was because he hadn’t been careful enough when talking to Sparky. Now things were going to get worse over here, even if they could get to the bottom of his blackouts and Plasmoid’s migraines. And then...even if they did, what would Gantu do? Or Hamsterviel? How would he live with whatever was found with him, if at all…?

He felt a hand go to his shoulder and turned to Angel, wiping an eye as he did so. The prior anger he’d felt from her was gone, replaced by a worried stare, flattened ears and low-hanging antenna. Angel cast a quick glance towards the door of the ship and looked back to him, narrowing her eyes slightly. 

“You know what Heat? Fuck those test results right now. Fuck ‘em, okay? We need to eat and, and-” She gulped as she gave another quick look at the ship’s door, “-And I think...we might not be able to soon. Y’know, if they’re…” She trailed off, unable to say the word. 

Heat slowly nodded, sniffling a little as he let Angel lead him to the kitchen. Experiments were scattered around the room; most were at the table, but others were eating on top of the counter and next to the fridge. Nosy was one of these, standing aside as Angel pulled the fridge open and grabbed a bowl of leftover pasta. He sighed as he looked both up and down, seeing their apparent exhaustion at the day’s events. 

“I know things are...messed up right now, but this is just...it’s just one bad day we’re having here, alright?” He said, folding his plastic plate in his hands as Heat took the bowl from Angel, “Whatever happens, I...I just wanna let you know I’m gonna try to help. All of us in the older series. Okay?” 

“Okay...thanks Nosy.” Heat said, “I just...I feel like I caused this-”

“You didn’t cause shit.” Plasmoid interrupted, marching up to the three experiments.

“But-”

“NO! You didn’t do anything Heat; calling Sparky wasn’t wrong, Gantu’s in the wrong for keeping us here and not letting us call anyone, end of story.” The plasma experiment snapped, stretching up on his front legs to stare the older in the face. Sadly, this didn’t work on the blasting experiment; Heat felt his heart sink as he saw that-just like him and Angel-Plasmoid was exhausted. He just wasn’t letting it show to the extent they were. 

He hung his head, causing Plasmoid to get even more insistent. 

“Heat, come on; you know I’m right on this. Quit blaming yourself because Gantu’s a jackass.” 

“Okay, fine…”

“No, not fine! It’s not your fault Heat, why can’t you see that?”

“Plasmoid, that’s enough.” Hammerface’s monotonous voice sounded out from the table, “It’s been a long day, and it’s not even over. Best we can do is deal with what’s coming. Talking to Heat like this won’t help.”

“Right. We’ve all been through a lot today, no one’ll be taking in information as well as they should.” Nosy added, “There’s not much we can do right now except eat. And something tells me we should finish up fast before he gets back.” He gestured to Heat and Angel, “You guys, get that into the microwave, alright?” We’ll cross the other bridge when it comes.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sound of the ship’s door opening came not only a few moments after Angel and Heat finished off the remainder of the spaghetti, being followed by slow, heavy footsteps. Hammerface looked up abruptly from his drink and glared in the direction of the noise, followed by Angel and Nosy. 

“Right, we’re gonna be...around if you need us, okay?” Hunkahunka asked, taking flight towards the hallway leading to the experiments’ room along with Amnesio and Slimy, “Good luck with this…”

“Thanks, we’ll call if we need you.” Hammerface said, watching them head off into the darkness of the hall as Gantu approached the kitchen. Hammerface turned to the doorway...and was shocked to see Gantu, standing in it and looking as though he’d just watched something get hit by a space shuttle. His normally stern face was instead solemn, and his eyes almost looked misty, as though he was on the verge of crying. He quietly trudged into the room and placed a small stack of papers down on the table. The experiments who’d stayed-Hammerface, Felix, Angel, Heat, Thresher, Nosy, and Plasmoid-all gathered around them, surveying the final results of the lab. 

Hammerface picked his up, scanning it. First quickly, then more carefully, then fearfully, his hands shaking as he read through the Turian characters on the paper. His stomach sank as he lowered it, looking up at Gantu for the first time in defeat. 

“What...have you done?”


	12. Earlier Daze

**Chapter 12: Earlier Daze**

“So you’re sure about them. All of them.”

“Unfortunately yes, 177. Everything on here is...is being correct.” Jumba sighed, placing the papers down on the table of the lower level of the ship. Clip’s eyes watered and she grimaced, forcing back a tear that’d been forming at the bottom of the left one. Sparky stood motionless beside her, his own expression unreadable as he stared at the sheet laid in front of him.

**_ ‘Subject: Experiment 609, Primary function, Thermal Laser. _ **

**_ Subject’s charge capacity is currently 81% of the normal range. Level has been consistent for approximately 4.5 months but is steadily decreasing. Immediate action needed to prevent shutdown.’ _ **

Action needed.

Action needed. Those two words formed a jumbled river in his mind as Sparky continued to scan the document on the table. It felt taboo. It was to be honest-Heat should be reading this and not him, but he was there and he was the only person who knew what this could even be like...sure, Stitch had gone through similar, but in energy based experiments it was different. Very different. 

How long had Heat been living with this? How much energy had he already given up? Just from looking at him he probably gave it to whoever even got slightly chilly in that stupid ship. He felt his teeth clench in fury at Gantu, thinking back to the day he’d met Heats-not the original, but his copies. All watered-down versions of him and yet all equally scared and confused as he was on the daily. 

Gantu had done some horrible things in the time Sparky had known him. Kidnapping Jumba, scattering them across the island, trying to catch them, manipulating experiments...

Hurting Clip when it came to Hammerface, hurting him and everyone else involved in the Angel incident. And speaking of Angel-16-or 17? 17 experiments now. 

But this? This was different, somehow-even if it was technically the same old antics. This was the first time he’d managed to injure experiments enough to potentially kill them; unstable molecules were incredibly dangerous to live with-if you managed to do so at all, and if Heat didn’t have energy powers, he’d be dead right now. To say nothing of Plasmoid having the opposite-overcharged molecules were just as unpredictable.

His thoughts were interrupted by Clip, who slid back in her seat and sighed in dismay, “So what now? We get these to them and then...what? You know who they live with, is he even going to take them in to get this fixed?” 

“We’re just going to have to wait and see 177.” Jumba explained, “Normally this is being minor issue, especially for 609 and 617. But not in this situation. As much as I am hating to admit this, we may just have to rely on Big Dummy to bring them to us.” 

“And what happens if we can’t do it right away?” Sparky asked, the results for Heat and Plasmoid spread out in front of him, “You know what’s going to happen if they don’t get any help. How long can they even last?” 

“About six and a half months more 221. That is being all the time we have for 609 and 617. Is simple and yet frustratingly difficult at the same time.” Jumba said grimly. “This fact is not being one I like, but more contact with Gantu is all we can be doing to help them at the moment.” 

“Great, just what we need-more contact with this, this…” Clip gave a disgusted noise and stood up, her face contorted in a snarl over the weight of the situation. “You wanna just call him so we can get this over with? The sooner we do it, the better.” 

“I am being in agreement 177, let’s be heading down to the house.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nani sat outside on the upper flight of steps, resting her hand on her face as she watched the stairs leading to the ship out the corner of her eye. This entire day was exhausting; work at the hotel was already demanding, but then there had to be this situation. 

It was a mistake to send experiments over to Gantu. That was obvious. But the full weight of said mistake hadn’t dawned on her until now, with experiments being in actual, potential danger of death and the situation at the ship clearly being abusive. When Stitch had his glitch, she’d felt the same at first-the experiments were so strong in comparison to them it was hard to imagine they could die at all, let alone be injured or fall ill in the way that these four had. And yet, here they were...

She lifted her head from her hand upon seeing the group of aliens making their way down the driveway. Just from their expressions, things obviously hadn’t gone well. 

Jumba was the first to reach her, “Bigger girl, we’re...well, we will be needing to call Gantu. And we’ll also be needing to have more contact with him from now on...unfortunately.” 

“Lemme guess, they weren’t any good.” 

“Yep. Messed up charges and...what else? Immunity and…?” Clip raised an eyebrow at Jumba, who sighed and finished for her, “544 has a physical injury. I am suspecting it’s a torn muscle, but he needs to be brought here for me to examine him.”

“Oh geez…” Nani put a hand to her forehead, “How are we even going to deal with this? And what are we going to tell Lilo and Stitch? You know how badly they took the idea of this alone…”

Clip crossed her arms and grimaced, “They’re just going to have to know about it. If we don’t tell them, they find out the hard way when they try to rescue them.”

“You mean Heat can-”

“Yeah. What Stitch had? The glowing green eyes? It’ll be that and even worse since experiments like us are so connected to our charge.” Sparky added, “He’s not gonna lash out or anything, but it’s still a dangerous state to be in.” 

Nani sighed, “...Alright, so what are we gonna do? Call Gantu, tell him, and then…?” 

“Then we start taking the four in for treatment. If possible I am wanting to be expanding it to the others; who knows if that ship is being free of pests the way he’s kept it in the past, not to mention I need to be checking up on 199 and 010 as soon as I can.” Jumba explained, “If we can help it, I’d like 010 to be the last to end up with Gantu; we are being in big trouble when it comes to these four and...I don’t want a repeat of 626.”

“Neither do I. Just dealing with Stitch was awful...” Nani stood up and leaned on the railing, a new-and troubling thought coming to mind as she did so. 

“Hey, are they...angry with us?”

There were a few moments of silence at her question. Sparky felt his ears droop; thanks to how some experiments had been given over willingly to Gantu, it was very possible some could be such...

Clip however sighed and crossed her arms, giving the wood floor a momentary glare, “I dunno, maybe they are; but if I know Hammerface, he’s not going to be. I don’t think Heat’ll be either. He’s too...I don’t wanna say slow, but he doesn’t come off as the type to get angry easily.”

“I just don’t think we’re really going to know until they’re brought here. If they are, then they are, there’s not much we can do about that except try to work with it.” She finished, looking back up at Nani, “Besides, if they are, can you blame them? Sure, we weren’t aware before, but we really shouldn’t have been leaving them there in the first place.”

“Yeah…you’re right. It’s just with all their powers, I don’t want any trouble, especially not with these four’s conditions being what they are.” Nani straightened up, dismay being overridden by her usual determination. Angry with them or not, these four-or seventeen she guessed-needed them now. “But, let’s still call him, tell him to come over. I’ll handle Lilo and Stitch, alright?” 

“Right.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Lilo? Stitch?” 

Lilo looked up from her empty book upon hearing Nani’s voice calling up to them. Well, mostly empty; it was still in the beginning stages, but pictures of experiments were slowly beginning to fill up its pages. She’d been making new entries today, though unfortunately not out of anything positive. This was more of a distraction for the situation at hand. 

Stitch pricked up his ears beside her as Lilo called out in response. “Um...yeah?”

“Can I come in? Jumba’s finished up with the tests, and I’d like to talk with you two about what’s going on.”

Lilo gulped and carefully set the book on the blanket beside her, “Okay…”

A soft whirring could be heard as Nani entered the room. “So, they’re in and, well…”

“...You can say it, you know...” Lilo’s voice was as dejected as hers. Nani sighed; just as she thought, Lilo had been taking the day’s events especially hard. “No Lilo, I’m not saying it. And please-please don’t be hard on yourself, okay? It’s like Jumba said, this kinda came out of nowhere.” 

Lilo crossed her arms and stared at the floor a moment, “So do they need to come over or...what’s gonna happen now?” 

“Ih, gaba happening now that isa in?” Stitch echoed, “Isa doing what Lilo said?”

“Well, I don’t know. What they found was serious, so they’ll probably be coming over for treatment soon. I don’t think Gantu’s gonna keep them in the ship. I just-I don’t want the two of you to be hard on yourselves over this, okay?” 

Nani could still see Lilo hesitate, hunching over and shooting a somber glance to the book on the bed beside her, “It’s just...I know I kind of helped with it and everyone keeps saying I didn’t, even the experiments. But I gave Gantu the idea in the first place! And now…”

“Lilo…” Nani sat down next to the two on the bed, “Listen, the experiment who told you two not to worry? Hammerface? Jumba tells me he’s nearly 30. He’s not going to say that this was your fault, he’s going to look at Gantu. And Gantu didn’t need to do any of the things he did that day from what I heard. If we’re being honest, no one can really blame you two since you were put in the position where you didn’t have a choice. That’s why those four kept telling you not to worry about them.” 

“Plus, I don’t think they knew this was going to go the way it did either.” She finished, placing a hand on Lilo’s shoulder, “I really want you two to know that this wasn’t your fault, and we’re going to find a way to fix what happened. Okay?”

“Okay…” Lilo gave a hesitant nod, wiping her eyes; they always teared up when she thought back to her decision. Even if she didn’t have a choice and Gantu hadn’t been so terrible, there’d still been many times she’d replayed that night over in her mind wondering if there was a way to actually reach the four. Stitch said they’d fought with Gantu in front of him, but she hadn’t known that at the time and came up with her cloning plan instead.

She felt herself as well as Stitch pulled into a gentle hug and returned it, feeling yet more tears well up in her eyes. “They’re gonna be fine, right? It’s not going to be like-like when-” 

“I...I really hope not Lilo. I can’t promise anything, but I can say we’re going to try and help them as best we can.”

Lilo slowly nodded, releasing Nani from her hug along with Stitch. “I just...I really really hope they’re okay…”

Nani sighed, “I hope so too. They’re probably going to be coming over from now on, so you might get the chance to talk to them when they do. And hey-Jumba’s their evil genius creator, I’m sure he’ll find some way to help them out. Just promise me you two aren’t going to beat yourselves up for what happened with Dupe.”

“We’ll...we’ll try not to.” 

“Okay, good-I’m gonna go downstairs now, I think Jumba’s done calling Gantu.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sparky and Clip had taken off by the time Nani met up with Jumba and Pleakley in the kitchen, the former stapling the individual test results together as the sun descended towards the treeline. 

“So I am guessing Little Girl and 626 have been told about these four?” Jumba asked as she walked in, leaning tiredly on the door frame. 

“Yep, they’re all taken care of, now all we need is for Dummyhead to come over and take those test results.” 

“It’s weird we’re gonna have more contact with Gantu after this, never would’ve thought it’d happen given the little monster. But these four need it, so I’m sure we’ll get used to it eventually.” Pleakley said, “...He is going to bring them over for their charges though, right?” 

“Hopefully he does, I don’t want Hamsterviel to know what is being happening with them. He likes 609 and...not in a good way.” Jumba said, placing the small pile of papers in a bundle on the table, “We can only hope to get to them before he notices-he’ll take advantage of them when they are being ill like this.”

“Yeah, we can only hope.” Nani answered. She could already see the shadows of birds flying by the backyard window. Gantu was on his way-hopefully he’d be taking the four in, but she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of doubt in the back of her head that things wouldn’t be as simple as they seemed...


	13. The Gathering Storm

**Chapter 13: The Gathering Storm**

Well, now they knew what was wrong with them.

But maybe they would’ve been better off not knowing, considering what it was bringing them…

Plasmoid stared out the window of the ship in uneasy silence, watching a storm churn outside. Large raindrops pelted the trees and glass, and a soft drum of water echoed overhead; even this far down in the ship, they could hear it, its presence being more than unwelcome at this time. 

Nosy had helped them understand it all, through the inevitable tears and several boxes of tissues. He still didn’t quite get what was going on; apparently he had overcharged molecules, Heat’s charge capacity decreased, Hammerface and Thresher...well, Jumba wanted them for physical exams, but Hammerface had a messed up immune system? 

He felt fine of course, like there was nothing wrong with him. The only indication something was off were his migraines, and new plasma-a powerful green blast that put his former red ones to shame. It would’ve been almost a power-up in a way, had it not been for the fact that his tail may not be able to handle them.

Just like Hammerface’s weird teeth, he supposed. Only more on the life-threatening side.

Great.

The gloominess of the storm was momentarily interrupted by Gantu, leading Thresher, Heat and Angel towards the door of the ship. The former and Angel carried umbrellas, but the other two were near completely bundled up, the only part of them Plasmoid could recognize being the top of Heat’s head and Thresher’s eyestalks.

Plasmoid knew what this was about; he flattened his ears and scuttled up towards the older 6 and 5-series in the hopes of calming their nerves.

“Hey, Heat? Thresher?”

Dull eyes turned to gaze at him. Plasmoid sucked in a breath and pressed on. “I-uh, good luck, okay? I hope they’re able to help.” 

“Thanks Plasmoid, I...I hope so too.” Heat’s voice cracked and he sniffed as Angel placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Heat, it’ll be fine-they’ll help however they can. And we-get to see Stitch and Lilo again, so it’s not all bad.”

Heat didn’t respond, but Plasmoid could see he was hesitant on believing Angel’s words. He just readjusted one of the several scarves around his neck and gave Plasmoid a muffled goodbye as Gantu opened the door to the ship.

“Alright, Hammerface and Nosy are in charge while I’m out with these three. I’m locking the ship up, so it’s just a normal day with me gone to try to catch trogs. I don’t think I need to tell you to behave while I’m gone.” Gantu said, stepping out into the rain and holding his umbrella out for Heat and Thresher.

“Whatever, just go you beached whale.”

Gantu glared at him, but gave no response as he closed the ship door, leaving Plasmoid alone in the entryway. 

Only for a moment though. 

Not even a minute after the four had left, a whirring noise came from within the depths of the ship, followed by Zap’s mocking impression of Gantu’s voice, “I don’t think I NEED to TELL you how to BEHAVE. Pppfftt-what a loser.” The yellow experiment floated into the entrance, glowering out the window at the storm. “You’d think he’d shut up after what he caused you four, but I guess not.” 

“Nope. Surprised really. He’s done it before when he was screwed over, but...I dunno. I don’t know what to think of it actually.” 

“Hmm.” Zap furrowed his brow as he glanced out the window, “Hey, wanna walk around the ship? Normally I’d say we can go in the front, but that’s not really an option right now.”

“Oh-yeah, sure.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Raindrops continued to spatter against the ship’s windows as the two made their way down the hallway. A far-off boom of thunder could be heard at times, followed by a distant flash of blinding white. Plasmoid had never seen one of these storms before and he didn’t know what to make of them; it felt odd to know they could actually cause a fire if the lightning struck just right. 

Zap on the other hand shot curious glances outside the windows whenever he heard the thunder-he couldn’t go outside of course, but he was still interested in lightning given he was designed to generate it. At the sound of yet another clap of thunder-closer to the ship this time, he turned to see Plasmoid following his gaze out the blurry windows. 

Plasmoid’s eyes wandered over the resulting flash of lightning before he caught Zap’s gaze. “Earth’s a weird place isn’t it.” He said, “I’ve only seen this shit on the computer-never thought it’d be so noisy, you know?” 

Zap peered at Plasmoid inquisitively; the plasma experiment’s words didn’t carry their usual sarcasm this time; they were softer-kind of like the tone he used for Heat and Thresher. Zap cocked his head and floated down closer to him before answering.

“I mean-it tends to be. Stuff like this happens all the time here.” He explained, “Storms here can be pretty sudden and once there was even snow, but that latter part was just 523, so I don’t think it’s natural here.”

Plasmoid pricked his antenna at him, his interest piqued at hearing this level of variety to Earth’s climate, “Huh-we were activated indoors, so I haven’t seen much of the outside. Or, been outside, actually. ‘Except for the front of the ship maybe.”

“Ah-right…” Zap said sheepishly, casting a glance at the floor, “See, I was activated indoors too, but it was in a really weird place.”

“And where was that?”

Zap grinned, thinking back to when he was activated, “A chicken coop in a barn-I think one of their water bottles dripped on my pod. Woke up in a ton of hay with a bunch of screaming birds.” He laughed, “It was trippy when it happened, but it’s super funny looking back on it, you know? ‘Course I was caught by Gantu eventually, but it was fun while it lasted.” 

Plasmoid snorted, “Oh man-wait, what are chickens exactly? Are they some of those foods Gantu brings here?”

“Yep! They’re these really fat Earth birds that like to scream in the morning; they look ridiculous when they’re running around and not on our plates. Their babies are cute though,even though they turn into that-or end up in our fridge.” 

“Aw crap, now I wish we were activated outside; that’s freakin’ hilarious-until Gantu showed up, but still!” Plasmoid’s eyes lit up as he laughed and Zap couldn’t help but blush a little, the electricity surrounding him crackling slightly in the dim lighting of the ship. “I think that’s the first time I’ve seen ya laugh by the way.” 

“It is? Huh, I guess you’re right…” Plasmoid squinted back out the window for a moment, “Hey, once we break out of here, we’ve gotta hike around this island. What do you think?” 

Zap peered out the window, following Plasmoid’s gaze to stare at the clouds overhead. The storm seemed to have reached its peak while they were talking, the drum of rain against the ship beginning to subside. “Yeah, that’d be cool...you know what I always wanted to see?” 

“Hm?”

“Always wanted to see the beaches here. Like-actually see them and not have to come back here afterwards. They’re awesome from what I’ve heard.”

Plasmoid smiled, “Then we gotta go straight there when we’re free.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sound of the two 6-series’ laughter however, wouldn’t reach the lowest level of the ship, close to the waste disposal units. 

A gray shape stood alone, steadying themselves against the wall of the hallway just outside the room. He’d come there to be by himself; this room was starting to become a common sight for him. 

And for all he cared, he may as well belong here. 

“Idiot.” Hammerface whispered into the darkness, “You should’ve thrown those three out, why didn’t you?”

Six months. They had only six months, Heat and Plasmoid. And it was entirely his fault...if only he’d realized the danger sooner-except he’d known something was wrong, and still did nothing about it. He’d let them get cloned when it came down to it. And then let it happen to himself.

Some household experiment he was…

...Household. 

The programming. It was active-he could use it-no-should use it. It was their only chance to get them out. It was already active, all he needed now was to tap into it...

And as for him? Who cared? He was responsible for getting them into this situation in the first place. They’d understand eventually, even if they’d be upset with him at first…

A wide grimace spread across his face as he stood in the darkness; it was the same one he’d given to Gantu months ago, but now it was for a different person-himself. If he couldn’t be useful in the past, then he could certainly make up for those mistakes in the present. 

The other three wouldn’t need to worry anymore-no one would...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two out of the four who’d left trudged back through the mud, one of which having to carry Heat and Thresher-and being less than thrilled to have to do so. The storm was lessening, but it was oddly cold for this time of year, and Gantu wasn’t taking any chances given Heat’s newfound problems.   
Speaking of.

Decreased charge capacity for Heat, and a busted leg for Thresher. Just what he needed. 

He was lucky as far as punishment was concerned-or at least, he wasn’t being verbally attacked for it anytime soon. The real punishment was, of course, dealing with the aftermath of his decision. 

Gantu set Heat down at the entrance, the experiment slowly glancing around the ship. His treatment was simple, just some time in the fusion chamber and updating his programming to adjust his capacity back to normal, but he was told it’d leave him tired for most of the day. It certainly showed with the first round-Heat looked like he was about to keel over. 

“You. Get into the experiment’s room before you fall on your face.” He said, jabbing a thumb to Heat. Gantu was answered with an angry glare from the experiment, who promptly balled up one of the scarves and tossed it at him. Gantu sighed as it hit his calf and fell to the floor, an equally moody Angel following the older 6-series’ leave from the room. 

He shook his head, though not without the notion that, on some level, this was understandable. He turned to Thresher, who was still held in his hands-only to find a similar irritated stare waiting for him. 

Also understandable. Thresher relied on jumping to get around, something he couldn’t do anymore thanks to him. 

“Do you want me to call Hammerface? Or Felix?” 

Thresher gulped, but nodded, averting his eyes from the captain. 

Gantu paused, then called for the former...only to be greeted with no response. 

Strange. Hammerface had seemed pretty upset when he’d first gotten the tests back, but even so, he hadn’t even come up to see them off. 

Come to think of it, he hadn’t even seen Hammerface since last night.

He tried Felix instead, and was answered almost immediately by the confused experiment. 

“Alright, here-he doesn’t want to be near me for obvious reasons, so you take him. I’m going to check on the computer.”

“Fine.” Felix held out his hand to Thresher, carefully leading him away to the experiment’s room. 

Gantu stood alone in the entrance, thinking to himself as he squinted around the ship. He couldn’t describe it, but something...didn’t feel right here anymore. Maybe it was him, but he felt like something had gone wrong while he was away. Why else would Hammerface stay out of sight like this? It made no sense. 

...But, it also wasn’t really his problem as to how the trog wanted to spend his time. Not unless there was some actual damage done, and nothing seemed to be out of order in the ship. 

He shook his head, narrowing his eyes and making his way out of the room.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Heat’s head spun. Jumba had told him the recharging would do that, but he still couldn’t stand the feeling. It felt like he’d just gotten off a ship that had been through an asteroid belt.

Angel was holding his hand, but he led her...for some reason. She was a little quiet, same as him, so maybe she was just letting him lead her for the time being. 

That or he was absorbed in thought again…

He almost didn’t catch him, but a gray shape out of the corner of his eye saw Hammerface walking towards the kitchen. 

Heat turned, but immediately froze at the sight, Angel near bumping into him. She began to complain, but he put his free hand to her mouth. “Don’t.” He whispered, flattening his ears, “Look.”

Angel’s eyes darted towards the kitchen, widening at the realization. She gulped as Heat took his hand away. “...Why’s he acting like that?”

“I dunno.”

Angel’s ears drooped, “W...we should see-”

Heat’s hand flew to her mouth again, but he nodded in agreement. “We can’t talk, ‘kay?” He whispered, “I don’t think we’re supposed to see this.”

The scene inside the kitchen was...odd. At least it was from Heat’s angle. Hammerface’s back was turned, but he seemed hard at work preparing food, dashing back and forth between the cabinets and fridge. He moved almost too fast for Heat to see properly, but something was...off about the whole thing. 

He soon realized the reason when he caught the 0-series eye-and instantly bit his tongue to suppress a gasp.

Heat couldn’t describe it, but that gaze...it looked so similar to Felix when he was under the control of his programming…

He thought back to when he’d been merged. That odd, robotic tone Hammerface took for a moment. He’d been tired and drained-like now, but he couldn’t help but wonder: were these two things...connected in some way?

But then again. The answer was right in front of him.

He gulped, then took Angel by the shoulders and quietly began to make his way to the experiment’s room. Something wasn’t right here, but they weren’t in a position to discuss it where they were. 

...But it looked bad, whatever it was, and he needed someone to talk to…

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nosy was inside the experiment’s room when the two entered, flipping through a ship magazine as he guarded Thresher, who was curled up in a sleeping bag. Felix was also there, rustling a newspaper with a sharpie clenched in his hand.

Both earlier experiments glanced up, simultaneously raising their eyebrows upon seeing the expressions of the younger. Nosy was the first to make his way to them, Felix close behind him. 

“Guys? Is everything okay?” 

Heat bit his lip, causing Angel to take over. “We-it’s Hammerface...he’s actin’ all weird in the kitchen.”

For the first time since he’d come to the ship, the 1-series’ face darkened. It didn’t look threatening, but it did look intimidating-it was the look of a person who’d had some harsh past experiences-and of someone who’d dealt with this situation before. 

Nosy hesitated, then sucked in a breath. “I’m going to check on him. You two stay here with Thresher.”

At the sound of his name, the octopus experiment peeked over from the sleeping bag. He looked groggy, but he quickly snapped to attention at seeing the seriousness of the situation. 

“What’s...going on?” He asked, but was ignored by Nosy. The early series gestured to Felix, who nodded grimly and stood up to follow.

They were stopped by Heat, who stretched his arm out to stop both of them.”What’s happening? Why do you look like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like how you did when Felix was messed up.”

Nosy shook his head, “That’s none of your business Heat. It’s not gonna last long, ‘kay?”

“But-”

Heat flinched at seeing Nosy shoot him a glare, but tried to press further, “That...that isn’t-”

He was quickly interrupted by the 1-series, who held up a hand to stop him, the glare deepening, “I’m sorry-that’s Hammerface’s health. You wanna be involved in that?”

Heat felt his cheeks burning at Nosy’s words; he was right, but at the same time, the memory from his merging kept coming back to him…

“But that’s not the first time I’ve seen-”

“Heat, stop.” Nosy’s words came out so harsh he felt like he’d been slapped with them. The 1-series paused, then sighed at seeing Heat’s reaction, “Look, it’s nice of you to be worried, but what you saw-what both of you saw...it’s something for us to take care of, alright? I don’t want you involved.”

“Fine.”

The gossip experiment nodded, taking his leave along with Felix. 

Angel glared after the two as they rounded the corner of the door.

“Jerk.” She snapped, “What was that about?!”

Heat and Thresher exchanged worried glances, “I dunno…”

“Well, I don’t like it. We know what Hammer’s like-especially you two! And he knows.” Angel jabbed a finger towards the hallway, “Something’s wrong with him, and Nosy’s not telling us.”

Heat sighed, “I know, but…”

“But what? Just let him hide shit from us?”

“No…”

Heat furrowed his brow before something caught his eye. He glanced from Angel to the vents overhead. Perhaps now, they’d start to come in handy…

“I think I have a plan.” He said, pointing upwards. 

Angel caught on immediately, giving him a nod in agreement. “I have markers up there. I can help.”

“Good. We’re gonna need ‘em.” 

Thresher held up a tentacle to add on, “...I can’t move, but I’ll stay here in case they come back…”

“Cool-thanks Thresh. But first though,” Heat felt Angel’s hands on his shoulders, “You’ve gotta sleep, okay? We can’t do this if you’re all tired from your treatment.”

Heat opened his mouth to protest, but thought better of it. Now that Angel mentioned it, his exhaustion was back and much worse than before, probably thanks to the stress he’d just put himself through. 

He let Angel lead him to one of the beds, gulping as he burrowed under the covers. They were a welcome feel after the metal floor of the fusion chamber, and he could feel himself quickly drifting off...

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_This was another dream-he could tell from the misty edges to his vision._

_He was inside the ship, but none of the lights were on, and the outdoors was gray and foggy. Even then, he could tell it was sunset, since his shadow was so long against the wall._

_Someone was inside one of the rooms. Which one, he couldn’t tell. But he did know he felt fear at the thought of meeting them. He was sure it wasn’t Gantu, but someone else…_

_His breath got faster as he neared the room. For some reason, despite the fear, he felt like he had to see how this person was doing. Like he was responsible for them on some level._

_He turned the corner and saw a shape beyond it. It was gray-and- **pink-?!**_

“AAAAHHH!”

Heat’s scream came before his gasp as he shot up in bed, holding his hand over his mouth in horror. The last image of the dream-turned nightmare was still fresh in his mind; why would he dream that? Was he that worried? If he was, it didn’t feel like something he’d think up...maybe a horror movie got mixed in? Either way...

He felt nauseous and struggled to stand, making it to his knees before another voice cut in.

“Shit! Heat-are you okay?!” Angel dashed up to him, bringing him into a hug, “You started freaking out and I wasn’t sure-”

“Vents.” He gasped, jerking back and scrambling to his feet, “We need to get into the vents-now-”

“No we don’t!” Heat felt the wind knocked out of him as he was pushed back down onto the bed, “That was a nightmare Heat-I’m not gonna let you-”

“Then I’m going in alone!”

“No you won’t!” Thresher’s tentacles went to his shoulders as he tried to stand again, pushing him back down. Neither Heat nor Angel had super strength, but even then, Heat could tell he was much weaker than her and especially Thresher, something they seemed to realize-since she was holding up both hands in case he tried springing up again. “I can’t-I really can’t! If we do this you’ve gotta calm down!”

Heat’s eyes teared up, but he nodded in defeat. Angel sighed and sat down next to him, putting a hand to the top of his head. He squinted, and she removed it. 

“Look...I’m sorry I pushed you, but I’m just...worried. I don’t want you to have an episode up there; you could get hurt. And you were really freaked out when you woke up.”

Heat didn’t respond, instead drawing the covers up to his nose. 

“It...that dream was about Hammerface, wasn’t it.” 

The thermal experiment gave a slow nod, squeezing his eyes shut at the thought. Angel’s ears flattened. Of course...no wonder he’d been so frantic.

Nosy and Felix had never come back, so she’d ended up watching Heat and Thresher. Things quickly got boring with no TV being allowed while the two rested, so she’d ended up drawing over a few Earth magazines stashed around the area. It’d taken a bit for her to notice Heat starting to panic, and she couldn’t help but feel a bit upset with herself for it. 

“Well...I…” Her words came out slowly given the situation, “I just...we’re gonna get to the bottom of this, okay?”

Heat gave her a silent nod. He seemed calmer, but she couldn’t tell if it was from drowsiness or time. It was soon revealed to be the latter, as he cautiously sat back up, waving Thresher’s tentacles away. Angel put her arm around his shoulders, watching as he gripped the blankets in between his fingers. 

He was quiet for some time before glancing over to her, his voice was calm, but still worried. 

“I...I think I’m okay now.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Angel fought the urge to ask about the nightmare as she unlatched the cover to the vent. Seeing how Heat had reacted to it, asking wouldn’t be a good idea. The thought occurred that it’d ended with something bad happening to Hammerface…

“Okay.” She said, standing back, “I go in front, and I’m gonna be checking on ya as we go. Also, have your light on. All the time. If it goes off, we leave-I’m not taking any chances with your charge.”

Heat nodded, Angel crawling into the vent and poking her head out at him. 

“‘Kay. Let’s find out what’s going on.”

She hunched forward, crawling further into the vent and watching as a yellow light illuminated the wall in front of her. Angel sighed; as long as she could see Heat’s light, they’d be fine-and she’d know if he shorted out. 

The two were silent as Angel led them down the vent; both their ears were pricked in case of discovery. A second light source revealed a grate, and Angel put her hand out to stop Heat. “I think we’re over them.” 

Heat scooted up next to her, the two listening to the sounds of a tense conversation below.

“-HELL are you up to-”

“You stay out of this, it’s my programming-”

“And mine apparently! Leave it alone-”

“No, it’s my-”

“-Quiet-”

Angel and Heat exchanged glances; whatever was happening in the room below sounded...odd-especially that last part. Angel hoped it wasn’t a coincidence they’d told each other to be quiet…

She angled her ears towards the grate, listening intently for the older experiments. 

It took a couple moments, but the words started to reach the two from the grate. 

“We talk more later. You take that household crap and trash it-you’re not taking it out when we’ve got a bunch of sick experiments in this ship-one of which is _you_. You understand?”

Silence from the grate.

“Hammerface!”

Nosy’s scream was so loud that Angel grabbed Heat to stop him from jumping into the roof of the vent, biting her tongue as she did so. She’d never heard him so upset, much less at someone who was supposed to be his friend…

Hammerface’s begrudging “Fine” was so quiet it barely registered, and from the tone, it was obvious it wasn’t genuine. Footsteps echoed from the grate as the group filed out of the room, leaving the two 6-series sitting in a dead silence.

It was a moment before Heat spoke, keeping his voice low in case some of the experiments had stayed behind.

“...Household programming? The hell’s that?”

Angel squinted at the grate, flattening her ears. “I dunno.”

Heat narrowed his eyes before glancing back towards the entrance to the vent. He wondered if they’d heard them. Maybe Felix had his heat sense-ironic, since his was now muddled from his condition. But whether or not they’d heard them, they’d still have to leave from here to talk. This programming-whatever it was-it didn’t sound good. 

It sounded like Felix’s program with a name. 

He had to find out what was going on; this wasn’t right, whatever it was...


	14. 628

**Chapter 14: 6.28**

The knock at the Pelekai’s door was answered by Nani, who stood aside to allow the four experiments into the house. 

“Alright guys...and Angel I guess-Jumba and Pleakley are upstairs and Lilo and Stitch are just finishing up with lunch, okay?” She said, “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need anything.”

“Okay, thanks Nani.” Heat said as the group made their way to the back of the house. Nani watched them go before turning to Gantu, her smile promptly dissipating. “You can just wait here. If you want anything, I’m in the kitchen like I said.” 

“I think I’m good.” Gantu crossed his arms and leaned against the railing of the stairs as he watched the door not-so-subtly slam behind Nani. It wasn’t very surprising given the situation, but he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of animosity at it. 

He sighed as he looked out at the Pelekai’s yard. It was akin to the clearing his ship had crashed in, filled with Earth trees and brush. He could hear the far off calls of birds through the undergrowth, seeing tiny forms flit back and forth between the branches.

This would be a long wait; he should probably take a walk to try to pass the time…

It was at that moment that a set of stairs caught Gantu’s eye, leading away from the house and into a clearing. They obviously went somewhere, but he knew it’d look suspicious if he just left in that direction. He’d have to be covert if he was to find out where these went…

The tap of Gantu’s fist at the door brought Nani to the front again, who leaned against the frame and raised her eyebrows at him. 

“I’m going to go and head back to the ship for a moment; 625’s screwing with the communicator in the main level.”

“Fine, I’ll call if you’re still gone when they finish.” 

The slam of the door soon afterward confirmed he was in the clear. Gantu gave the set of stairs another glance before heading back down the path leading away from the house. However, it wasn’t long before he began to circle back around, making his way back towards them…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So...why’s Angel here again?” Lilo asked as herself and three of the four experiments sat outside Jumba and Pleakley’s room on the steps, “I mean, Stitch likes it, but isn’t it just you guys who need this?”

“Well yeah, I dunno why she keeps coming...outside of seeing Stitch all the time.” Heat said, smirking at the pink experiment. 

Angel stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry at the heat experiment, “I didn’t just come for Stitch! I came because you and Thresher are giant babies and Plasmoid needed the help, that’s all!” 

“Is that why you came even when Plasmoid stayed at the ship?” Thresher asked, only to be glared at by Angel. 

“Hmph, I guess I must not be very appreciated around here…” She said, crossing her arms in annoyance at the two. Heat opened his mouth for a retort, but was interrupted by a very dusty Stitch making his way towards the group. He’d obviously been in the backyard from the looks of it, judging from the bouquet of flowers held fast in his hands as he clamored up the stairs. He came to a stop on the second to last step and hastily thrust the flowers towards Angel, petals dropping all over the stairs as he did so. “For youga-buchiboo!” he exclaimed, his face sporting a wide grin through a layer of garden dirt. 

Angel giggled, but was soon cut off by Heat, who pointed to the bouquet with a mock confused look on his face. 

“So, which one of us are those for?” He asked, watching a look of confusion spread across the younger 6-series’ face. “Gaba? These are for Angel.” Stitch retorted, his face lighting back up again as Angel quickly grabbed the bouquet, seeing both Heat and Thresher starting to reach for it. She held it up in Heat’s face triumphantly before sticking her tongue out at both. 

Lilo laughed, “Aww, I thought you were gonna split them up and pass ‘em around like we do in school. It’s fine though,” She said as Stitch gave her a sheepish shrug, “Angel doesn’t come here often anyways.” 

“That’s right! I don’t! I only come out of the goodness of my heart, like in the movies.” Angel said, drawing both Heat and Thresher towards her in a group hug, “These two are very lucky to have me, right?”

Both eyed her slyly before Thresher spoke, “...I more remember you saying you didn’t have one in front of Gantu though…”

“ _It gets like that around him and you should be thanking me for it_.” Angel’s face distorted into a grimace as she strained the words out to the 5-series, who just shrugged and smiled down at her. 

“By the way, how’s...the ship? Is everything okay there?” Lilo asked, “And how’s Hammerface doing? I don’t think he’s come over yet, has he?”

The experiments grew silent for a moment at the mention of the tool experiments. Things...had turned delicate when it came to Hammerface from what they’d gathered on him, and none of them could bring themselves to tell Lilo and Stitch the details. Heat spoke first, once again covering for the gray experiment. “Well, it’s about what you’d expect from Gerbilboy and Gantu, but it’s okay other than them. Hammerface and Felix took over the cooking so we’re not eating sandwiches all the time, plus 625 forgot a couple of times with Thresher and, well…” Heat grimaced towards the purple experiment, who grinned, “Nah, that was funny looking back-I mean not when it happened but definitely now that it’s past me. Remember how Gantu panicked and called Hamsterviel over it?”

“Augh-ew! Why’d you have to remind me of that? I was the one who found you all freaked out from it!” Angel exclaimed, though her smirk revealed she actually seconded Thresher’s opinion on the incident. 

Lilo laughed at the three’s retelling, “That’s good you’re fine over there at least. We’re trying to map that ship out, but it’s really hard-I didn’t know it could be so huge…”

“Ih, meega tried and naga easy at all, isa way too hard to figure them all out.” Stitch added, “Meega even got caught when I broke in to save a cousin one time.”

“Maybe ask Jumba about that one, there’s three levels on that thing alone and the vents are like...all over the place in there.” Heat said, “Ask her, she knows.” He pointed to Angel, who nodded in confirmation, “You can always just bust your way in, that works too.” She shrugged, “I get it if you’ve got a lot of experiments you have to turn good though…”

This notion had however gotten Stitch’s attention. He pricked his ears and placed a finger to his mouth in thought, “Isa could work, Kixx and Sparky always talk about how they wanna break in anyways…”

“Well, there’s an idea at least, right?” Heat asked, but was soon cut off as the sound of the door opening behind him caught their attention. 

“Alright, 617 is being done for the time being, so it’s 609’s turn now.” Jumba said, pulling up his goggles as a rather tired Plasmoid walked out and plopped himself by the railing, raising his antenna at Lilo and Stitch in silent greeting. 

Lilo offered the scorpion experiment a smile and was about to wave back when Pleakley’s voice blurted out from behind Jumba.

“Hey, are those my daisies from the backyard?”

Angel quickly glanced at the flowers in her hand before shoving the bouquet into Heat’s face as the latter swatted at them, “Uhhh, no? Not at all! Quick-Heat, get inside!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The trip back to the ship was oddly loud, Angel threading a string through the bouquet (Pleakley had begrudgingly allowed her to keep them) and Gantu being...strangely talkative with Heat and Thresher. Apparently he’d taken a walk around the area while they’d been getting their exams and discovered something incredible, although both were too preoccupied to really listen to him. Plasmoid was resting on Gantu’s shoulder, tail hanging limply in the late summer air as the ship’s clearing came into view. 

“Right, lemme just take you back to your room, try to avoid...whatever’s lurking by the trash bins nowadays…” Gantu said, taking the scorpion experiment back to the experiment’s room and leaving the other three in the main room. 

Heat’s ears flattened as he watched Gantu leave with Plasmoid; as much as hated to admit it, Gantu was starting to have a point when it came to Hammerface. Ever since the discovery of their health issues, he’d only become more and more withdrawn and yet...threw himself into some programming he had. So much so that Gantu and other early series had started taking care of the younger experiments in his place. Case in point, taking them to their appointments at the Pelekai house.

Speaking of, now that they were here, it’d be a good idea to head to their room right away. Heat gulped. “Come on, we should go before-”

“- _He_ shows up…” Angel handed her bouquet to Heat as she almost took a step in front of him and Thresher at the gray shape that’d stepped into view. 

Despite her apprehension, Angel offered Hammerface a smile as he stood in front of them. It was returned, but with a glazed, almost hazy feel. 

Angel felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Whatever this programming was with Hammerface, it wasn’t right. It felt similar to when Felix was under the control of his programming, but in a different way.

“Agh, hey Hammerface, we’re gonna heat up our lunch okay? You don’t have to make it for us this time.” She offered the gray experiment, only to be met with a shake of his head. “It’s already on the table, so you can just help yourselves when you get to it.” 

He sounded normal then. _Looked_ normal too-the weird glazed expression he’d had when he’d come to greet them was gone. Maybe it was her imagination, but Heat and Thresher’s panicked glances towards her said otherwise as Hammerface headed back towards the kitchen. Angel squinted at him as he left, seeing a definite slowness to his gait that hadn’t been there before.

Somehow, he also seemed like he was losing weight…

“Why does he keep doing that…” Thresher whispered once the older experiment disappeared from view, “He’s been sneaking up on us like that all the time now…”

“I dunno. Have an idea, and I don’t like it.” Angel said, “Sneaking up on you is nothing, have you guys seen his face when he comes up? He always has that weird stare...”

“...We...we only found out so much about that thing. And Nosy still won’t tell any of us about it. It’s worse than Sparky hiding my episodes from me.” Heat said, but was suddenly distracted by the sound of whistling drifted down from the hallway-followed by the uncharacteristically happy Gantu. 

Angel wasted no time turning on him. “And what the hell are you so happy about?” She snapped, only for Gantu to hold up a finger to shush her. 

“Had to keep it a secret on the way back, but I’ve found a very...interesting experiment pod on my walk.” 

“Oh…” Heat’s ears flattened inward as he looked up at Gantu, “Can you maybe...not keep them…?”

Gantu placed his hands on his hips and shook his head, “You know the rules, there’s a reduced paycheck if I don’t catch anything for him...or if he feels like it. You did sign up for this after all.”

Heat hunched his shoulders as Gantu reached into his pocket, bringing out a small blue pod. Upon seeing the number written on its surface, he did a double take.

62 **8**? Did he see that right? Experiment 628?

He stood stunned as Gantu walked off, pod in hand. It wasn’t long before the three heard yet another noise-the sound of a video call starting up. 

Angel was the first to recover from the shock at seeing the new number, grabbing Heat’s hand and Thresher’s tentacle each and glaring down the hallway. 

“We’ve gotta see what’s going on, that experiment shouldn’t be a thing…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“ANOTHER NEW EXPERIMENT?! ONE CREATED WITHOUT MY KNOWLEDGE? I must admit, is reminding me of when he created 627 right under my nose, but no matter. Activate it!”

The shrill sound of Hamsterviel’s voice rang out in the room as the three listened intently from just behind the entryway. Angel winced at the noise as Thresher and Heat grimaced, the gold light of the pod briefly illuminated the hallway.

However, the noise was followed by a dead silence, one that signaled something had gone wrong. The three looked to each other and Angel opened her mouth to speak before Hamsterviel’s disgusted voice cut in.

“What...is this creature?”

“I-I don’t know, I just found the pod for it.”

“No, no-there has to be some kind of mistake, this is too funny…”

The mocking comments from both Gantu and Hamsterviel were strange enough to get all three to exchange glances. It was rare when Gantu and Hamsterviel agreed on something, so to see it in action was jarring. Angel poked Thresher and gestured towards the room, but he shook his head. Whatever was going on in there, it wasn’t safe to peek in yet. 

“Ugh, let me just get rid of her...it. Whatever this thing is.” Gantu said. Not a moment later he was standing in the doorway, holding... _something_ by the ears. He quickly noticed the experiments watching him, Angel and Heat near grabbing their own upon seeing how he was holding 628. At this, he nonchalantly dropped the experiment and snorted when Heat dove for them, managing to catch them before they hit the metal floor. 

“Well, that’s yours now, you can do whatever you want with them, maybe get them to use their powers if they feel like it.” He smirked and strode off, leaving the three experiments-now four, alone in the hallway. 

Angel hissed at Gantu as he left before turning her attention to the experiment, who was now cradled in Heat’s arms with her ears flattened. She looked like she was still recovering from being held by them, rubbing the back of her head with large hands. 

“Wh...what’s going on? Why’d he grab me like that?” She asked, wincing, “And...who are all of you?”

“Oh-sorry, my name’s Heat and the others are Angel and Thresher. Are you okay?” Heat asked, setting the experiment carefully on the ground. She had no legs or feet to speak of, lifting her long arms away from the floor as he set her down. 

“Yeah, I think I’m fine. Who was that?”

Angel sighed, “That...was Gantu.” She looked over to the others in defeat. Yet another experiment captured; this would make them 19-18 of them and one of 625…

Thresher grimaced, “We’re really sorry, we know you’re new and all, so we’ve got a lot of explaining to do…”

“Oh...it’s fine, I’m sure I’ll get it soon enough.” The experiment said, smiling up at the three, “There’s no need to apologize-thanks for catching me by the way.” She nodded to Heat, who returned her smile, “No problem.”

“So, we’re gonna have to show you around, err…?” Angel sheepishly scratched the back of her head, “628? That’s your number after all…”

The experiment nodded, “Yeah, I know; I dunno why I got laughed at when I was activated though, I’m supposed to bring dimensions together…” She craned her neck at them quizzically, “Maybe they just didn’t understand…”

“That’s possible.” Heat said, sighing, “We’re supposed to be eating lunch right now, so we’ll introduce you to everyone else here. How’s that sound?”

The experiment gave them a warm smile, “Sounds good!” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Here ya go, sorry about fishface back there, but you’re good right? Our ears hold up pretty well after all.” 625 said, handing 628 a ham and tomato sandwich. 

“Yeah, thanks for that-I’m fine though, really!” She said, taking it in her hands as more of the younger experiments crowded around her, curious as to the new experiment’s powers. 

Fudgy watched this all from a distance it seemed. So did the others. The five 0 and 1 series couldn’t help but keep glancing at the gray figure hunched over at the sink, mechanically cleaning everyone else’s dishes.

All while a full plate of food stood at Hammerface’s seat…

This didn’t go unnoticed by one later series, Heat mostly staying out of 625 and 628’s conversation as he picked at his food-a gigantic pile of chicken and pasta that, for reasons he was coming to understand, never seemed to decrease whenever Hammerface was around. 

As much as he felt like confronting the gossip experiment, this wasn’t a good time for it. Nosy’s eyes flashed up at him with the same steely glare he’d seen about a month prior, warning him against speaking up. 

But by this point, Heat was getting sick of seeing it. 

“Lots of food I have here.” He said, careful to not alert anyone else to the provocation. 

“Yeah, well.” Fudgy’s tone came out as cold as Nosy’s gaze, her antenna flattening at the mention, “We got a lot of stuff on our recent grocery run.”

“Blitz-”

“I have an idea.” Nosy interrupted, narrowing his eyes at the orange experiment, “Can I talk with you in the other room?”

Heat raised an eyebrow. A win? An actual win on this issue? That was new. Maybe he’d actually get to the bottom of things…

He nodded, following Nosy as he strode out of the room…

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You have some nerve.” 

“Same to you.” 

Nosy’s back was to him, his arms crossed. He’d led Heat into the room where he’d rediscovered drawing. Ironic, considering they were fighting right now. 

“Why don’t you turn around and talk to me?” He snapped, “Hammerface isn’t well-it’s pretty obvious-”

“So you just let loose in front of him Heat? That’s not smart-Hammerface thinks you don’t notice-or that you don’t care. It’d be wise to keep letting him think that. It’d give you more cover.”

Heat paused, but Nosy turned back to him and nodded in confirmation. “Yeah, I know-even without knowing where you go.You’ve been sneaking around this past month, I can tell.” 

His steely gaze and cold tone had disappeared, replaced by a somber one. Heat felt a twinge of guilt at seeing how exhausted Nosy actually looked-the coldness must’ve been only a front for everyone else…

“I…”

“Nah. Don’t pull that.” Nosy sighed and glanced around the room, “I take some fault in this-didn’t tell you what was going on. It’s only natural you’d snoop on your own.” 

Heat nodded slowly, “You...Sparky did the same to me. And Hammerface. It just…”

“It doesn’t feel good.”

“No.”

Nosy cast a glance to the floor. It was obvious he couldn’t keep this secret anymore-at least, not certain things about what was happening…

“How...how much do you know. From this.” He asked, “I promise I won’t be angry.”

“How about you promise you won’t sugarcoat things?”

“Fine. Start spilling.”

Heat took a deep breath, “Well, he-he calls it household programming, and it kind of-it makes him just-carry out his function all the time?”

“Go on.”

“But he’s...acting like Felix with it. Like-he’s overusing it.”

He opened his mouth to continue, but was stopped by Nosy’s outstretched hand. “You have the gist of it. Now let me elaborate on why we don’t say anything.”

“Here’s the problem Heat, he’s doing it…” He sighed and bit his lip; this would be difficult to explain to the 6-series…

“He’s doing it...for you three.” 

Heat blinked, his eyes widening in shock at the realization. Nosy nodded. 

“I can’t...I don’t know how to explain it without throwing you in, and the reason is because I can’t. Hammerface just...he…”

“...he always felt responsible for you three, and he thinks his programming will help. But, obviously, it’s not. You see how your food keeps growing when he’s around and how he’s making your damn beds in the morning. And then...how he won’t eat anymore.”

Heat hugged himself, feeling a lump grow in his throat. All this for them? Not talking to them? Not spending time with them? Just doing a bunch of housework and chores? Not even _feeding_ himself?!

“Why...why is he doing this? Why does he think it’ll help?” His voice came out hoarse, but Heat pushed on, “I wanna know...he doesn’t need that thing, so why?!”

He felt Nosy put his arm around him and hugged him, all remaining animosity dissipating. 

“I know. It’s okay Heat-it’s not right what he’s doing.” 

“Why wouldn’t you tell us?”

“Because I was afraid. That thing hasn’t come out in years Heat-it scares me too. But I could never get him to budge on it-no one could, and...well…”

“I want to.”

Nosy immediately took his arm off of Heat, shaking his head. “Heat, no-it’s too dangerous. For both of you.”

“But we’ve gotta do something.”

“No, I have to do something.” Nosy interrupted, “I’m sorry, but this is an early series thing-and you’re one of the people he’s latched on to. If you confront Hammerface, you could hurt him-he’s really fragile right now.” 

Heat squeezed his eyes shut, but nodded. It made sense…but even so, he couldn’t just sit there-he had to do something now that he understood the full weight of the situation…

He peeked up, meeting the gossip experiment’s gaze with what he guessed was a determined one, given Nosy’s immediate raised brow. 

“Can I ask you something?”

“Go on.”

Heat took a deep breath before he began. “Since we can’t approach Hammerface, can you?”

Nosy tilted his head, “So, like an intervention. Or-”

“Just pull him aside or something-if I’m not allowed to go up to him, then you should. You and the other early series.”

“Ah…” The pink experiment thought for a moment, furrowing his brow. Any kind of approach was risky-Heat’s suggestion was no different, especially after the first time he’d confronted Hammerface-but maybe if he was calmer, and maybe now with a literal fire lit under him, he could try and plan for it, maybe even carry it out...it was a risk, but maybe it was one he could afford to take.

He hesitated, but gave the thermal experiment a short nod. “I’ll tell the others, alright? But you have to promise to keep this between the five of us-you can tell the other three, but no one else, especially not Hammerface.”

Heat nodded silently, flattening his ears. This...was a win for them, and it hadn’t been as upsetting as he thought it’d be. 

“Alright. Good. Let’s head back. If anyone asks, just say we talked about our differing opinions. I like Fib, but I don’t want him screwing this up.”


	15. Regression

**Chapter 15: Regression**

Nosy narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms, shifting his tired glare back and forth between 625 and Gantu. 

“Unbelievable, just, _effin’ unbelievable_.” 

The group of captured experiments stood in a shocked circle around Gantu-or rather, what he’d been reduced to after 151 had been set free by 625 as a joke. Gantu, now a small baby, sucked his thumb and gazed at the group in curiosity, 625 sheepishly standing off to the side with his hands behind his back and a toothy grin on his face. 

“What? It’s funny!” He retorted, shrugging at the band of irritated older series, “Besides, why do you guys care so much? This is a good time for you to get out of here.” 

Nost shot 625 a sharp look, “And leave you with him? He’ll probably get buried under sandwiches, not to mention we’ve got four people here with health issues and a reality warper no one’s supposed to know about.”

“And for that matter, why’d you even do this? You know no one’s going to take care of him except us, so why would you give us more problems to deal with?” Fudgy snapped, “I don’t know what your issue is, but this wasn’t funny. We’re going to have to go to the Pelekais over this. Again.”

“Okay, fine-I’m gonna just get back to sandwich-making then, since I’m the cause of all this, right?” 625 said, his voice quickly turning irritable at the older experiments. Before anyone could stop him, he made for the elevator and pressed the button, giving them a sarcastic wave as he traveled out of sight. 

Nosy growled after him before turning to Gantu, who had been returning 625’s wave. Gantu had obviously been in a fight with Stitch, as despite his cheerful attitude, Nosy could see he was a bit scuffed up, a small band-aid visible on the top of his head. It seemed 625 had barely even bothered to check him out before leaving him with them.

He sighed, “Alright Gantu, let’s get you back to normal, what do you say?” He asked, trying to adopt a nicer tone around their babyfied captor. The result was awkward and everyone in the room felt it, shifting amongst themselves and exchanging glances. Gantu in the meantime seemed completely oblivious, laughing and nodding at Nosy’s question.

“Right…” Nosy looked over at the crowd and furrowed his brow, “We’re going to have to split up to get the ingredients for the cure. Thankfully Jumba just used Earth foods for it, so they’ll hopefully be easy to find around here.”

There was another hushed discussion before Angel raised a hand, “I’ll go! I have super speed so it’ll be quick; just tell me what I’ll have to get.”

“Wait wait wait-hold on a minute...we’re going to the Pelekai’s right? That means you can’t just go alone.” Thresher said, holding up his top tentacle to stop her, “Plus, we’re probably gonna have to get the cure from them if it was updated.”

Angel squinted at Thresher, not completely buying his story. “Mmm-hm, and why else can’t I go alone? Aside from that?”

“Weeeelllll...there is Stitch…” Heat offered, only for Angel to stick her tongue out at him, “Knew it! So what if I wanted to see Stitch, you wanna know if Kixx can come over every time you go out!”

“Yeah, but I don’t like, try to do it all the time like you do.”

Fudgy sighed, “That’s enough you two, and Thresher has a point. I think one of us should head out with you so we don’t get sidetracked on this.”

Angel groaned, “Lemme guess, Hammerface?”

“No. He’s staying here.” Nosy’s reply was terse. He held up a hand to shush the song experiment before turning to Felix, “Felix? What about you?”

The green experiment shrugged, “I mean, if they’re fine with me coming, then sure.”

Angel brightened up and grinned at Felix’s suggestion, “I’m fine with that! Plus we can show you all the trails leading out of here.”

“Okay then, cool-so it’s going to be me, you, Heat, and Thresher-I think some of the ingredients I saw grow pretty high up, so you might have to use your powers for those if that’s fine with you.” Felix explained to the four younger experiments, who nodded in agreement, “Sounds good to us! All we need is the list and Gantu’s wallet.” Angel said, nodding to the cleaning experiment. 

“So it’s settled then. You four get the ingredients, and the rest of us’ll stay here and take care of Gantu until you come back, alright?” Fudgy asked, “And try to get some groceries if you have to go to the store for this stuff, we’re running out of eggs again.”

“We’ll do that! Lemme just write down what we’ll need and we’ll be all set to go.” Felix said, taking a pen and paper as the group of four experiments heading off towards the elevator.

Fudgy nodded after him, “We’re gonna leave the ship open for you, alright?” 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nosy yawned as he opened the fridge, keeping a very overenthusiastic Gantu back with his free hand. This was a nightmare scenario-if not for the fact that Gantu was babyfied, for the fact he was such around Hammerface. Given how much he’d deteriorated in the past month, Nosy suspected he’d completely disappear into his program if he so much as caught a glimpse of Gantu in this state. 

“Alright, alright- calm down. I have to puree this.” He said, withdrawing from the fridge with a bag of peas. Sure, they had milk, but it came from Earth cows; he wasn’t going to take any chances with it. 

“And I see you over there-get in here, I know what you’re about to say.” He called towards the doorway, seeing a Heat-shaped shadow slink backwards. 

Heat leaned on the side of the entrance as he crept in, raising his eyebrow at Nosy. “So.”

He sighed, “I’m aware.”

Ever since Heat had pitched the idea to him, he’d been planning it out with Fibber, but the early series were split by now-right down the middle. Felix, himself, and Fibber were all in agreement on confronting Hammerface, but Fudgy, Slimy, Hunkahunka, and Amnesio weren’t. Poxy, Stamen, and Nosox were undecided, but he suspected they leaned more towards Fudgy’s opinion. 

Nosy hastily warmed the peas on the stove, watching both Heat and Gantu from the corner of his eye. “...I’m sure you know we’re split Heat. It’s a wrench, I’m not sure I can get around it.”

“Why can’t I talk to Fudgy?”

“Because she’d kill us both. Next question.”

“Why don’t you just sidestep her?”

“And cause more problems with the early series? It’s getting worse-you see it, so do I.”

Heat growled in frustration. The politics of the 0 through 3-series were starting to become exhausting, and ironically, even though Nosy was trying to shield him from the worst of it, it was still leaking over and onto the later series. 

“You know.” He said, “I don’t appreciate you guys. Not at all. Not if you can’t even agree on how to help Hammerface.”

“You cut that the fu-” Nosy caught himself mid-swear and growled, “Don’t you dare say that in front of me Heat. You don’t know Hammerface. You think you do, but you damn well don’t. He’s been through things you couldn’t even fathom-and half of ‘em were for later series like yourself.”

Both experiments averted their eyes from each other at the outburst, Nosy feeling his heart sink as he stirred the pot. Heat was right, and he knew it. But he only had him to talk to in all this...Fudgy and even Felix and Fibber had refused to let him in, and the effects on his mental state were starting to show. 

It wasn’t fair, and he was equally as trapped as Heat in this...even worse was to see that, although Thresher, Plasmoid, and Angel had had some talks with him about the issue, Heat was turning out to be the most obsessed with fixing it. It reminded him of the worst aspects of his friend, and he felt as though he was watching Heat turn into Hammerface right before his eyes. 

He stopped stirring, squeezing his eyes shut. What he was about to do could cost him everyone in the early series...but he had to do something...

“Cool this off.” The pot holding the peas was shoved into his chest by the 1-series, whose eyes were narrowed in a mix of annoyance and determination. Heat started, but did so, giving Nosy a confused glance. 

It wasn’t acknowledged. The pig experiment said nothing, striding out of the room and leaving Heat with Gantu. It took a moment to register, but Heat quickly held the pot out of the grasp of their captor as he giggled, trying to reach it. 

“Agh-lemme cool it down like Nosy said, okay? Then you can touch it, I promise.” He said, giving the alien a warm smile. Despite the seriousness of his and Nosy’s conversation, he wasn’t going to let it spill over onto Gantu. 

He held the pot around face-level and closed his eyes, focusing on the energy within it. There wasn’t much, but he could easily take it out.

It took a minute before Heat placed the pot on the floor, crouching down and smiling as Gantu laughed, poking at the floating peas within it. Heat couldn’t bring himself to feel the same, instead resting his chin on his hand and raising an ear towards the hallway. Someone was coming, but by the sounds of it, it wasn’t Nosy. 

A moment later, Fudgy was crossing her arms at him and Gantu, silently glaring at both. He returned it. 

“Well?”

She straightened up at the remark, narrowing her eyes. “I’ll be quick. I don’t want you involved in our garbage-especially not Hammerface’s. Anything from you could mean the end of him-you will break him Heat, do you understand that?” 

“Then why can’t you do something?!” His voice was low, but Heat felt his fists clench in anger, “It’s been two months Fudgy, his fur looks like it’s falling out-you won’t let anyone talk about this, so we’re all just sitting here watching him get worse!”

“Because I-” Her demeanor shifted from angry to defeated, “Because we’re at a loss too! You think we haven’t tried to talk to him before? This isn’t the first time it’s come out Heat-he’s relying on it because it’s the only way he can think to cope with what’s happened. And if we confront him...then…” She trailed off, hoping he’d understand the implication. 

Heat’s ears flattened at the thought, but he only glared off to the side, hoping Gantu was too distracted to notice him. “Why can’t things be different this time then? If he likes it that much, maybe we can get him to...not?”

Fudgy sighed, putting her head in her hands, “I thought I told you this is a delicate situation Heat, I’m afraid we’re-”

“You are. You and Hunkahunka and Amnesio and-”

“They’re on my side because they’re 3-series. They’re the psyche series, they know.”

Heat groaned, resisting the urge to kick the pot over in frustration, “So no one’s willing to do anything?” 

“...I’m sorry.”

A sudden yell from Angel interrupted their argument, causing Heat to turn back towards the doorway. “Hey-you coming or what?!”

“Yeah-gimme a minute, okay?! Fudgy wanted to talk to me!” He called back before turning to Fudgy in disappointment. She looked away, antenna drooping. “Look, I’m sorry. If you want, I’ll bring up what you said to the others-”

“If you were really sorry, then you’d let us in the later series in. We’re in this situation too, and everyone can see what’s happening. To us-especially everyone who doesn’t know? It looks bad Fudgy. It really does.”

“Sparky really messed up, didn’t he.”

“He did.”

Fudgy sighed, still failing to meet his gaze. “Then...how about I bring you in. You, Thresher, Angel, and Plasmoid. Or-you know what…” Her eyes met his, and Heat’s heart sank as he realized she was crying, “You’re right.”

“I’m gonna call a meeting with them once we deal with Gantu, okay?” Her words cracked, and Heat could feel his stomach clenching at how sad she looked. Up until now-though to be fair she’d hidden it-he hadn’t really considered how this had affected her. Heat bit his lip and nodded, tearing up. 

“Thanks Fudgy. And...I-I’m-”

She held up a hand to stop him. “Don’t. We’re divided from you thanks to our age and experience, but...it’s time we break that down a little. Hammerface is latched on to you three after all.”

“Now go-get Gantu the cure, okay? I’ll handle the others.” Fudgy said, nodding towards the door. Heat returned it, giving her a smile as he left. 

It took only a moment for Fudgy to be joined by Nosy, his own eyes misty from the exchange. She sniffed, wiping an eye as he picked the pot off the floor. “We’ve really messed up.”

“We have.”

“I’ll talk to the 3-series. You...you can plan that talk with Hammerface. It may help.” 

“Are you sure?”

She nodded, “Yeah.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Woof, I can’t believe it’s actually fall-it still feels like summer…” Felix said, fanning himself with the slip of paper he’d written the ingredients on. A good two months had passed since the four’s diagnosis and they’d gradually settled into an awkward new normal-Heat and the others heading over to the Pelekai’s for treatment, and more contact with free experiments like Kixx, Sparky, and Clip. Sometimes, it almost seemed like they weren’t captured anymore if not for the rules surrounding being outside, especially now. The outdoors was only for travel nowadays, and Gantu always supervised the younger experiments when they stepped outside to explore the clearing or head to the beach. Things were certainly different, but the changes were a mixed bag to say the least…

Upon his complaint however, Felix felt the temperature surrounding the group abruptly decrease and shot Heat a stern glance, placing his hands on his hips, “Heat, come on...you know what people think of messing with the temperature.”

“But you said you were-”

“Okay, my bad, but you can’t do that right now. I know your charge capacity’s up from what it was, but you should still be careful. I’m just used to being indoors and wanted to complain, that’s all.” He explained, “Besides, we’re almost there anyways.”

True to Felix’s words, the house soon came into view, the car sitting in the open garage signaling they were just in time to catch the family-they were clearly headed somewhere. Angel and Felix exchanged glances before the former rushed forward and up the stairs. 

Angel didn’t even have to knock before the door was opened, a puzzled Nani standing before her. She looked down at Angel in confusion before noticing the rest of the experiments making their way up the stairs. 

“Uh...Angel, why’re you guys here? Did we miss a day or something?” She asked, “Or did Gantu not get cured-’cause if it’s the latter I think we’re going to have to take another trip to the coffee place…”

“It’s that. You don’t have to be anywhere, right? Because we’re not sure if the cure’s been updated.” Felix said, holding out the list of ingredients as he walked up.

Nani took the slip of paper and squinted at it for a moment before handing it back, “Well, everything on there checks out. The only problem is that I promised Lilo and Stitch a trip to the movies a little later, so I’m not sure how much time we’ll have until then.” 

“Agh...what’s up with that coffee anyways? Is it something you need to show your ID for?” Felix asked, “I remember passing by a store selling it and they had a sign out front saying you had to be 18 to get it. I mean-I’m an adult by Earth standards, but I’m not tall enough to pass as an adult human.” 

Nani gave him a nod of confirmation, “Yep-the town put those in place since it’s a newer blend. I’m going to have to buy some before giving it to you.”

“Okay then, should we uh…-should we head to the car or-”

The group were interrupted by a sudden yell, followed by an excited Lilo and Stitch rushing over to greet them from behind Nani, “Hey guys! What brings you here?”

“Ih! Did youga escape? ‘Cause meega knows naga have a checkup today!”

“Agh...we’re here because Gantu’s still a baby and we can’t just-you know-leave him like that, sorry.” Felix said sheepishly, “We just came over to get the cure and probably do some grocery shopping.”

“Oh…” Lilo’s face fell in slight disappointment, “But...wait, why would you want to cure Gantu? Wouldn’t this be a good time to leave instead?”

“625.” Heat said plainly, “He’s cool, but we get the feeling he wouldn’t be the best parent.”

Stitch snorted, “Meega guess youga right, tay loves his sandwiches after all.”

“Alright then, should we head out?” Nani asked the group of captured experiments. Felix nodded, but Lilo and Stitch both cut in once again. 

“Hey, can we come too? I know Space Mummies’ll start in a couple hours, so I think we’ll have enough time to get everything before then. So...can we?” She asked, shifting from one foot to the other as the two looked up at Nani. 

Nani smiled, but still raised a brow, “You two can come, just don’t annoy each other in the car. And no “blue punch buggy” jokes, especially not with Heat and Thresher, alright?”

“Okay!”

“Ih-okitaka!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later at the ship found Plasmoid sunning himself on the hatch, pricking his antenna at the feeling of a slight breeze against his skin. Zap floated further up, though careful to avoid the roof. Other experiments had slowly filed outside now that they had the freedom to, carefully making their way around the pools of water dotting the clearing. Plasmoid smiled at the outside ambiance before looking up to Zap. 

It was strange, but for some reason, he felt better around him. He didn’t know how to describe it and it definitely wasn’t the same feeling as when he’d gone out with 619, but Plasmoid by this point understood he had a crush.

Something like that-it was small perhaps, but it was there. 

He wondered if Zap felt the same way at times…

“Hey-what’re ya thinking about?” Zap’s grainy voice drifted down to Plasmoid’s level as he noticed him looking. He couldn’t help but flush a little as he floated downwards towards the green experiment. 

“Ah-nothing much, it’s just nice out here and I haven’t been outside in a few weeks.” Plasmoid said, gesturing towards the clearing surrounding the two. 

“Yeah, I get that…” Zap said, “Wanna walk around for a bit? Before we’re cooped up again, I mean.” 

“Sure, lemme just-”

The sudden sound of high pitched laughter cut in, causing both experiments to jump. Plasmoid looked swiftly back towards the ship and groaned, rolling his eyes at Gantu stumbling his way down the ship’s entrance. “Oh no-how’d you get out here?”

Gantu simply babbled and pointed towards the ship, causing Zap to let out a snort, “He can come if he wants to, right? Does beg the question as to what happened to Nosy though…”

As if on cue, Nosy’s panicked voice could be heard from further inside, calling for Gantu. Plasmoid sighed in annoyance. 

“He ran out here Nosy!” He called into the ship, only to jerk back from Gantu as the latter attempted to grab one of his antenna, “And he’s being grabby, can you come get him before he pokes my eye out?”

“Aw shoot, sorry about that!” Nosy rushed outside and scooped the now tiny alien into his arms, “He’s way more hyper than he is as an adult-makes it hard to keep track of him to say the least…” He sighed and looked down at Gantu, “Come on, let’s go back inside, okay?” 

Gantu shook his head and pointed at Plasmoid, who took a step back and flattened his antenna, “Nope, nope-you listen to Nosy; stay away from my ears.” He said, edging further down the entryway as their babyfied captor giggled and reached out towards him. 

Nosy sighed, “I’m gonna just take him back in-sorry about the uh. Whatever that was from him just now.”

“Geez…” Zap said in a low voice as Nosy led a pouting Gantu back inside, “He looks exhausted. Hasn’t even been looking in our journals lately-the ones we keep out for him anyways…”

At the mention of Nosy’s tired demeanor, Plasmoid flattened his ears before explaining. “It’s Hammerface. He got real weird ever since we found out what was wrong with us and I think Nosy’s dealing with that.” He said, making sure to beat around the bush as usual...

By this point, he was aware of the gist of Hammerface’s programming, but he wasn’t sure of how to let Zap in on it. 

However, it suddenly seemed he didn’t need to. Zap’s brow furrowed as he surveyed the forest, clearly thinking to himself.

“...He’s kind of become like a ghost, you rarely see him unless he’s out cleaning something…wait.” Zap’s observation was immediately followed by an uncomfortable pause as him and Plasmoid stared at one another, neither wanting to confirm the implication.

The silence of their discovery was broken by Plasmoid, who gulped before speaking up, “I-I don’t tell anyone-please. Nosy said we couldn’t.”

“Yeah, no-I’m actually with you on that, especially after how Felix acted-”

“Boo.”

“OH FU-!” Plasmoid jumped and screamed at the cleaning experiment, who’d stepped up behind him and was crossing his arms, a small container of ground coffee in his hand. Plasmoid could see Heat, Thresher, and Angel picking their way over the rocks behind him, arguing over bags filled with both what Plasmoid guessed were the rest of the ingredients and the week’s groceries. Angel was clearly trying to pawn all her bags off on Heat and Thresher, which was the cause of the bickering. 

Felix turned back and shot the three a glance before shaking his head in dismay, “Angel, come on, don’t do that to them! You know you agreed to carry the snacks!” 

“Yeah but-”

“Oh god-you said you were gonna take those, I’m carrying all the fish and I don’t have super strength! Go!” Heat snapped at the pink experiment, a bag full of the aforementioned frozen fish gripped in both hands.

Felix looked taken aback at Heat’s sudden outburst before putting his hand to his head, “Now I know how Hammerface feels-I’ll take the snacks, Angel…”

“Speaking of which…” He looked back towards both experiments, his expression turning serious, “sorry guys, but I heard, and...I need to talk to you about it after we deal with Gantu, okay?”

Plasmoid and Zap exchanged worried glances before Zap nodded, “Sure, we’re gonna stay out here though.”

Felix sighed as the arguing started up again behind him. “That’d be a good idea.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Night was falling as Plasmoid and Zap waited outside by the ship, watching the water of the clearing turn a brilliant orange and soft ripples drift across the surface. The sound of the ship’s door opening revealed Felix, who cautiously stepped out and glanced behind him before making his way over to them. 

“Sorry about the wait, it took a bit to make the cure and...deal with the awkwardness, if you know what I mean.” He explained, “Also told Gantu I’d see you inside, so he doesn’t suspect anything.”

“Okay, cool.” Plasmoid said, then instantly pivoted to the main topic at hand, “So, Hammerface. What’s going-?”

“Actually,” Felix jabbed his thumb back towards the ship, “change of plans-Fudgy’s gonna fill us all in, okay?”

“Huh. Wait, what?” Plasmoid cocked his head in confusion, “Wasn’t she against it?”

“Heat called her out.” 

“Oh.” The two experiments exchanged shocked glances; it was out of the ordinary for Heat, but at the same time, given the situation, even he probably felt frustrated from the lack of action.

Felix nodded, leading the two up to the ship. “If Hammerface comes around, our story’s that we’re discussing you, okay? Half truth, like we practiced.” 

Plasmoid nodded, gulping at the idea; Fibber’s power had rendered them able to only tell half-truths and lie by omission, something he found difficult. But he’d still have to try, given what was happening to Hammerface. 

The hallway felt oppressive as Felix led the two towards the back room, Plasmoid and Zap glancing around in suspicion. Even in Hammerface’s absence, it felt as though he could pop up at any moment-his programming had really upped his stealthy behavior…

They were greeted by Fudgy, who wordlessly stood aside to let them in.

“Alright guys, you two can sit down. Felix?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re gonna help me with this. You, Amnesio, and Nosy. We need the full explanation so we can all decide what to do here.”

The green experiment nodded, gesturing for Plasmoid and Zap to break off from him. They did so, trudging over to the middle of the floor with the rest of the later series.

Fudgy took a deep breath as she surveyed the later experiments. It was obvious they knew what they were all here for-many of them were shooting the group of four distrustful glances, and others were glancing nervously towards the door. 

She sighed. “Right. Everyone? You’re gonna be quiet throughout this. And even then-we’ve gotta be careful with our language, no offense to Fib.” 

The lie detector shrugged, but gestured for her to continue. 

Fudgy closed her eyes for a moment, then began. 

“Okay...we all know why we’re here, and we-us in the early series haven’t been fair. I get that now. So, to make up for it we’ll be letting you all in-but you have to promise me that you’ll stay calm and communicate with us, okay?”

The experiments nodded. Fudgy turned and gestured to Felix, who stepped forward. “So, my function. I’m sure we all know what it is...or was. But Hammer...he has something similar to me, only more subtle. He’s able to access it at will, but he’s been doing it every day as of now, and things are...they’re getting dangerous. I’m smelling something on him now-he’s...he seems to have an Earth infection, and with his lowered immunity...”

He felt himself unable to finish, and took a step back, staring down at the floor in dread. He didn’t want to admit it, but the tool experiment had stunk the past week. There was something in his lungs, and the very idea shook him to his core. Experiments were supposed to be resistant to bacteria and viruses, even the earliest 0-series. And yet...

“...Okay, my turn now-we brought you here because, well, we’re old, and we’re scared, just like you.” Amnesio said, alighting on Felix’s shoulder as he spoke, “That thing’s dangerous, but not to you guys-to him. And we don’t know what to do about it. We think that if we can have you understand, then we might be able to work together to help him.”

There was a dead silence as the three finished, Nosy shifting from one foot to the other at the tension. It was palpable, and each later series bore a different reaction to the news. 

It was a moment before Tank spoke, his voice a low whisper in the still air of the ship. “But...those of us who weren’t let in this...we don’t know what we should do either.” 

“Yeah-you guys kept something really important from us and now you think we can help with just a summary?” Zap asked, “That’s not cool.” 

Heat however, held up a finger to cut in. “We do know stuff though-he’s focused on us, but they wanted you guys to know what was happening too-just in case you had something. It’s fine if you don’t.”

Zap nodded, but his antenna still drooped in disappointment. “Well...what did you have in mind?” 

“Intervention. Or pulling him aside.” 

“Ah geez.”

Amnesio closed his eyes and sighed, “I hate to admit this-I’m against it, but you were right back there-we have to try something. I’m just...so afraid of him getting worse over it…”

Nosy bit his lip, but stepped forward, gesturing towards Amnesio, “...I’ll-I’ll do it Am. We don’t have much of an option. The other one’s to have all of us do one, but it’d have much more of a chance of hurting him.”

The two were tugged at by Fibber, who gave them a solemn stare, “He hates lying by the way. And if we do something like bundle him into the house, he’ll never forgive us. This is all we have.”

Amnesio gripped Felix’s shoulder as he looked over to the floor. “...Okay. You two try. Please don’t be harsh on him-if you can help it.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The moonlight shone overhead as the gray figure slunk his way up to the top level of the ship, where the four had slept months before and where he now spent most of his nights-he’d started getting up a few hours after everyone else had fallen asleep and heading there, usually staring out at the waterfall that cut off the clearing. 

It was around one in the morning, like most other times he left the room, so he was certain everyone was sound asleep. It wasn’t like he was doing anything wrong, but these past few weeks-especially the last couple of days, he felt a need to keep himself hidden from them. 

...Except, he wasn’t alone. Not this time.

Hammerface’s eyes widened as blood rushed to his face. Both Nosy and Fibber were perched by the wheels of the shuttle, and both were staring at him intently as he stopped dead in his tracks.

Hammerface gasped and coughed, hunching over from the shock of seeing he wasn’t alone. 

“Wh-what, how?!”

“I’m an escape artist and this room has cameras.” Nosy said flatly. Hammerface found himself searching for anger in his friend’s voice, but couldn’t find any. The realization almost...disappointed him in a way. He would expect Nosy to be angry with him for withdrawing as much as he had, but the pink experiment instead had a sad look on his face as he surveyed his friend, his ears flattened against his head. Fibber looked much the same, hugging himself in worry as he looked his successor up and down. 

“Hammerface...why…” Fibber couldn’t finish his sentence, his arms dropping by his sides as he stared at him, teary-eyed. 

Nosy took over upon seeing Fibber’s faltering, “...Why have you been giving in to that program? It’s every day you’ve been tapping into it-we’re really worried and you’re not…”

He drew in a breath before continuing, “You’re not eating, you’re barely sleeping...and it’s...it’s really obvious. You look thinner every day and...” He finished with an audible crack in his voice, causing Hammerface to hang his head in guilt. 

“Look, I-”

A beep startled him as Fibber stepped forward, having regained his composure, “Don’t explain this, you know what this does to you-you saw what happened to Felix, so why are you letting it get to this point?”

“And...I know-it’s because of the other three, but you can’t just neglect yourself for them, they’re scared for you and-”

“Yeah, actually, I want to.” 

The words felt like bile as they slipped out of his mouth. Nosy and Fibber froze, the former’s jaw dropping open in horror at his exclamation. Hammerface took a step back and turned around, not wanting to face either of them. Weak as he was, he felt anger start to boil inside of him. Were they really approaching him over this? And when the other three needed him the most? 

“I thought you gave a damn about them.” He continued, “I’m responsible, you know…” 

“Yeah, you’re _so_ damn responsible for Gantu being a douche.” Now Nosy’s voice had some anger to it, “You promised me when I first came here that you wouldn’t do this, and now here you are scraping your food onto Heat’s plate when he’s not looking and staying up at all hours of the night. What does that say to him? Or the other two? How about Angel?”

“Or better yet-how about us?” He glared at Hammerface’s back as the tool experiment hunched his shoulders. “And what about 17-”

“Shut _up_. I know what I’m doing.”

“NO, NO YOU DON’T!” 

Nosy’s sudden snarl was enough to get Hammerface to turn back towards him in shock; never before had he seen Nosy get so angry at him-if at all. The pig experiment immediately regretted snapping, placing a hand over his mouth and squeezing his eyes shut. Hammerface watched as a couple of tears spilled over them and fell to the floor. 

The room felt eerily still in that moment; the only things Hammerface could hear were his heart pounding in his chest, and his breath catching in his throat. The three older series listened intently, hoping the outburst hadn’t woken anyone.

Nosy took his hand away from his mouth after a minute, fixing Hammerface with a glare this time around. “Just...please-stop messing with that thing. If you can’t do it for yourself, then at least think about the other three.”

“Jumba activated it when we were merged, so I may as well. I don’t care if they notice, it’s for their own good.” 

These words sounded completely alien to Hammerface; he’d never spoken to his friends like that before. Worst of all, try as he might, it was as if he couldn’t stop himself. The other three were far more important right now, and this could always be fixed after they were rescued-at least, that was the line of logic that kept flashing through his mind ever since they’d gotten their results back.

Nosy now sniffed, another tear sliding out from his eye. “Hammerface, don’t do this...”

He was aware his voice sounded like a snotty Earth kid’s. Probably a result of his disguise as one, but it still felt strange to hear from himself. Hot tears blurred his vision as he watched Hammerface shake his head and turn back towards the elevator. 

“I’m going back downstairs. As far as I’m concerned, this thing is helping, and you’re not going to stop me from using it.”

His voice had once again taken on a robotic quality. Nosy felt sick upon hearing it-it was the tone Hammerface took whenever he was acting on his program. Neither him nor Fibber said a word as Hammerface traveled back down the elevator, leaving them alone in the top level.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hammerface scowled to himself as he made his way down the dark hallway towards the ship’s bathroom. He stepped inside and flicked on the light, taking out a stool and climbing up to the counter so he could see himself in the mirror.

He almost wished he hadn’t looked upon seeing the reflection that greeted him. A scraggly mess stood in the mirror, their fur sticking out in various places and a small mat growing on their left elbow. He turned his head to see prominent bags under his eyes. 

Hammerface sighed before muttering a curse under his breath and pounding a fist on the counter. He’d never really cared what he looked like after the reveal, but he could see why his friends would try to talk to him...he must’ve forgotten to brush himself today.

Come to think of it, when was the last time he’d done that? He hadn’t done it lately because he hadn’t had the energy to-in fact, he’d been feeling oddly tired these past couple of days. He’d had to practically drag himself out of bed yesterday and then…

Then there was the coughing.

It’d started small, but it seemed now like there was a film inside his lungs that refused to come out. Even now, he could feel it threatening to slip out and wake up the whole ship. 

Hammerface frowned and paused for a moment, then carefully cleared his throat.

Nothing. No change. 

He growled and placed a hand to his throat. Just what the hell was going on here? Something wasn’t right...


	16. Limits

**Chapter 16: Limits**

Morning came surprisingly early for Hammerface, faint rays of light just starting to pierce the interior of the ship as he awoke. The gray experiment cracked an eye open in confusion, uncurling from the chair he’d managed to find for himself after his encounter with Nosy and Fibber. 

Speaking of which…

He flattened his antenna in guilt at remembering the fight up in the top level; despite the exchange, they were still his friends...even if he didn’t care for how they approached him the prior night... Not to mention, he was unnerved at the things he’d said to the two; the fact that he had even done so wasn’t like him. 

But, there were still the other three to worry about, and they came first…

...Or…

He sighed, shaking his head to clear the thought. He’d have to talk with his friends first-it was early enough in the day anyways.

Hammerface stood up, but winced, holding a hand to his throat; it was definitely worse now, and he could feel a tangible sting deep within it. He grimaced as he began to make his way down the hall-hopefully one of them was up by this time…

However, as he was nearing the room, he heard a noise-it was small, and barely audible, but he recognized it nonetheless. 

He paused next to one of the doors before knocking. “Hey-I can hear you. I want in.”

There was a short silence from the other side before the door was cracked open by Fudgy, who stood aside to let him in. 

Hammerface flushed as he walked into what was clearly yet another gathering of older series-older series who’d been discussing him, as they all turned and nervously glanced off to the side. Nosy and Fibber were at the forefront, but his gaze fell to Felix first. Hammerface hunched his shoulders upon seeing the older 0-series; Felix was gripping the side of the table he was sitting at and clenching his teeth, trying his best to refrain from succumbing to his own coughing fit. 

“Sorry, sorry-it’s just-” 

“I know, it’s okay Felix, I think I have something now…” He hung his head in shame-Felix’s new programming had left his powerful sense of smell behind, hence the discomfort at his entrance. 

Felix shook his head and drew in a quick breath, “No, don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine, but I think you know the other part of this though, right? Since you came here?”

Hammerface narrowed his eyes at the group indignantly, “I’m not budging on the programming-”

“Hammerface, I’m going to stop you right there and say I don’t care about the programming-not as much as I think is appropriate for here, anyways.” Fudgy said, raising her voice amidst Fibber letting out a beep. “The fact is, Felix has been smelling your sickness for the past week, and we’re worried-you’re not…” She sighed, “Your immunity’s not as good as it was, and with you tapping into that programming all the time, it’s not being addressed. Please just..we want to help you and...”

Hammerface crossed his arms and huffed as Fudgy trailed off, “And what do you mean by that? Like I said, I’m not getting my function changed.”

“Which is exactly why I’m not touching it, all I want is for us to get you to Jumba to address your illness. That’s it. I heard about..last night. But...look-we didn’t know what else to do! It feels like we’re just sitting here and we’re-we’re basically watching you die…” She felt her voice crack at the end, chocolate spilling from her eyes. It was all she made-she was entirely composed of various forms of it, but she could never get used to crying for it. It was rare for her, and Hammeface knew this. He shrunk at the sight, turning his gaze to the ground. 

She hoped he understood-she hadn’t meant to blurt out the last part, but it was true, and he knew it; it was obvious.

Hammerface studied the floor in silence; it was apparent that to go to Jumba would likely mean his programming would be removed, but...there was the issue of the coughing and Felix could definitely sense something was wrong with him. And worse-what if he spread it to the other three? The last thought was especially concerning…

He frowned before answering the 1-series, trying to alleviate a growing sense of defeat, “...It’s gonna come out, isn’t it.”

She sighed, still sniffling from her outburst. “I know you want to keep it, but it’s just…” She trailed off and glanced to the side, but Hammerface held up a finger, “No, I...I dunno anymore. This thing... it’s been a part of me since I was made. When I heard about the other three, it-well, their problems looked more pressing than mine, so I tapped into my programming. To-to help.”

He gulped as another beep sounded out from Fibber, watching as a sea of sad expressions turned back towards him. 

“I...I’m aware that wasn’t the only reason...” 

Nosy’s eyes filled with tears, “We know Hammerface.”

“I...have a question to ask.” Slimy said, peering cautiously at the gray experiment, “Was this active before Jumba showed up? Or did you access this when you were first around the other three? Because if not, then…I think that would be the best way to prove you’ll get around fine without it. Because-none of us like seeing you put yourself through this, and I’m sure you feel the same on some level.”

The tool experiment was silent for a while at this question, hugging himself as he continued to survey the floor. The others waited in apprehension; after the fight the prior evening, they wanted to give him as much time as he needed to think…

The “Oh.” that escaped Hammerface’s throat was barely audible, but Fudgy’s heart sank at hearing it. The tone was soft, but there was a twinge of horror to it that she-and everyone here who’d been caught before him, understood all too well. He almost seemed to deflate as he lifted his head to stare back at them. “I-I need to get over there-right now…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gantu cautiously peered into the kitchen, breathing a sigh of relief at seeing it was empty. 625 was still asleep and Hammerface was nowhere in sight-a perfect time to start breakfast before either of them tried to intervene. 

He frowned to himself as he opened the ship’s fridge, rolling his eyes as he pushed aside a package of lunch meat. It wasn’t even in its proper compartment, but by this time, putting it back just encouraged 625 to leave it out. Sure, it was similar logic to when he’d had to take over for the sandwich experiment’s messes back when he’d obtained 010, but by now, he didn’t bother to put anything back. 

He took out an egg carton and closed the fridge...revealing a large group of older experiments watching him from behind the door. 

Judging from the look of their leaders, the day was going to be a long one. 

He grimaced upon seeing Hammerface however-the gray experiment had taken to hiding far out of his way in the months since their diagnoses; it was appreciated at first, but it’d soon become irritating-and then very troubling. Despite the experiment being draped in a blanket, Hammerface looked frail; he’d lost some weight, the fur on his face was ruffled, and there were large bags under his eyes. Something was clearly wrong with him, and the reason became apparent when he let out a small cough and cleared his throat, blinking tiredly up at the former captain. 

Gantu stared at them for a few seconds before quietly placing the eggs back and closing the fridge, not taking his eyes off the group the entire time. 

“What. The hell. Is going on.” He asked, keeping his voice as low as possible.

“Oh, I think you know.” Fudgy said, “We need to get to the Pelekai’s today, reason’s...pretty obvious.” She nodded towards Hammerface, “He wants to head over there as soon as possible.” 

Gantu sighed-though out of relief this time around, “Fine-good, actually, I’m calling them first, you take him outside so Hamsterviel doesn’t see what we’re doing.” 

Fudgy nodded, Nosy placing a hand on his friend’s shoulder as the group made their way out of the room. Gantu watched them leave before turning to the phone on the countertop, angrily picking it up and dialing the Pelekai’s residence. 

“Gantu? What’re you calling for?” Lilo’s distrustful voice came out of the receiver. 

Of course. 

He tried to calm himself-at least for this part of the call. “I need to talk with Jumba. Hammerface is coming over to the house today.” 

“Okay.”

“One thing though-he’s...not feeling well, alright? Just keep that in mind for when he arrives.” 

“Oh-is he alright? What’s wrong with him?” 

He sighed, “He’s sick-he lost some weight and I just want you to be prepared for that, that’s all.” 

“Oh...well, thank you for letting me know then...I’m gonna get Jumba now.” 

It was a few moments before Jumba’s equally distrustful tone took over, “So, 033’s coming over? And Little Girl is telling me he lost weight according to you. Any reason for that?”

“That’s real funny for someone who activated what looked a hell of a lot like mind control when you merged him.” Gantu snapped into the phone, “Believe me, I know it when I see it, and you have some nerve accusing me of anything pertaining to Hammerface when most of his behavior stems from your mistakes.”

“I don’t know what’s wrong with him by the way, I do think he’s got himself an Earth sickness, which wouldn’t be good for anyone here for obvious reasons, but he’s also been isolating himself, so I may need 010 here to scope out Earth bacteria given it’s been tracked all over my ship by now. He’s waiting outside, and I’m coming over. I may take some of the others with me given it’s Hammerface.”

The silence from the other end was deafening. Gantu felt some satisfaction at it; truth be told, he was never keen on the programming upon seeing Jumba activate it, both for pragmatic and ethical reasons. It was a couple of seconds before Jumba spoke again. 

“Fine-but I want to know exactly happened during this time. And I will be removing that programming immediately.” 

The phone clicked off, leaving Gantu alone-but only for a moment, as another noise soon caught his attention. 

The sound of a monitor booting up made Gantu groan in irritation and turn to glare at Hamsterviel. “I’m in the middle of something.”

“Communicating with the enemy, I see?” 

“Shut up and get out! I don’t have time for you today.”

“For what-”

“Experiment hunting.” Gantu snapped, “Is that good enough for you?!” 

Hamsterviel’s lip curled into a snarl, “Don’t think I didn’t hear the end of that call. I demand answers as to why 033 needs to be taken to my useless ex-partner-right now, or I withdraw this month’s pay-”

“What’s there to talk about? Hammerface is sick. You wouldn’t want a sick experiment, would you? In your cell? Where you know full well any Earth bacteria could mean you’re found out?” He crossed his arms and returned the glare, watching his employer grind his teeth in fury. 

“I am keeping more of an eye on things then-I don’t understand why 033 is sick, but it most likely has something to do with you and your stupidity in cloning them. Perhaps now would be a good time to talk with the other experiments you caught…”

Gantu narrowed his eyes, “You do whatever, I’m taking Hammerface to Jumba.”

Hamsterviel wordlessly hung up, leaving Gantu alone in the kitchen. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself upon hearing yet another interruption-a small creak from behind him. 

He put his hand to his head upon seeing a wide-eyed Heat and Plasmoid peering in; the fight had clearly woken them as well as a few others, as an irritated Angel could be heard shouting from down the hall. 

“Agh-blitznak, look, Heat and Plasmoid? I have to leave, you two and Thresher are in charge for breakfast, alright? Avoid Hamsterviel as well-if you can help it.” He said, trying to adopt a calmer tone around them. 

The two had no answer for him, and he could still feel their eyes on him as he made his way out of the room…

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The path to the house seemed hazy to Hammerface as he was walked down it, being supported by Felix and Nosy. It was a blur to him, and he found himself having to stop and rest to catch his breath at multiple points during the trip. 

The house soon came into view, its blue and red roofing now being a welcome sight for the gray experiment. He began to sigh in relief, but ended up coughing halfway through. 

Nosy and Felix steadied him, the latter rubbing his back to soothe him. “We’re here Hammer, don’t worry, okay?”

“‘Kay…” 

His voice unnerved him at how weak it’d gotten. It’d hadn’t been that long, but he could feel it diminishing nearly every time he spoke. A tap on his side alerted him to Fibber, who held up both hands and pointed at him with a furrowed brow. 

Hammerface sighed and nodded. Fibber was right-it was probably his illness, but he’d been forgetting to sign instead of talk. 

“Let’s head up then, right?” He signed to his predecessor, who nodded and gave him a reassuring smile. 

“Right. Get up the stairs, I’ll be waiting out here.” Gantu said, stepping over into the clearing next to the house and nodding to the early series. “Snapped at Jumba on the phone, so I’ll just be over here. Don’t think I’m-”

The door swung open to reveal Jumba, who gave him a glare from the doorway before gesturing to the experiments to come up the stairs. 

“-wanted.” Gantu finished halfheartedly, watching the four experiments make their way up the stairs. 

“Oh 033…” Jumba’s voice sounded sad upon closing the door behind them. Maybe even disappointed as he surveyed the frail frame of the experiment standing in the middle of the front entryway. Hammerface hunched his shoulders at the tone, thinking back to Jumba’s words. He had told him to not go overboard back when he’d activated the programming…and yet...he had anyways...

“Jesus. I’m glad I rushed Lilo and Stitch to school.” Nani’s voice came from the kitchen as she poked her head into the main room, Pleakley not far behind. “I know you said it was bad, but I wasn’t expecting something like this…”

Pleakley grimaced from behind her upon seeing Hammerface; Gantu and Jumba’s phone call had quickly reached shouting levels, and it was easy to see why. The tool experiment almost looked like he was about to fall over, and there was an audible wheeze coming from him. His eyes were downcast, and Pleakley could almost swear he was tearing up. 

He cautiously made his way into the doorway, holding up a finger to join in the conversation. “Say...Jumba? I know you said you didn’t want food in him before he goes under, but...we’ve gotta do something. I don’t want to say anything, but…”

“But we’re all thinking it. I know.” Nani finished, nodding in agreement, “Can he at least have water?” 

Jumba sighed, “033 can be having water, but only that. Not even having lemons in it.” 

“Okay, good. Uh...Hammerface? Why don’t you go sit on the couch and we’ll...I guess we’ll keep you company for the time being.” Nani said to the experiment. He gulped and nodded, Nosy leading him over to the couch. 

Nani sighed as she poured a glass of water in the sink, feeling a tug on her sock-Fibber and Felix had been sure to follow her in, and she got the feeling she wouldn’t be the one taking the glass to Hammerface. This was soon confirmed when she glanced down to see Felix peering up at her. 

“Here. We’ll be right after you two.” She said, handing Felix the glass. He nodded and walked off into the living room, Nani and Pleakey following after him. 

Hammerface, now situated on the couch, was hunched over with his head in his hands. Nosy was next to him, quietly trying to get him to drink some of the water brought over by Felix. Hammerface however, wasn’t moving from his position, instead staring blankly out the window. 

“Agh...geez. Hammerface, I’m really sorry.” Nani said, crouching down next to the experiment, “I…”

She sighed, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment. Jumba had filled them in on the situation, but only a little. She didn’t know the full extent of Hammerface’s programming, but the effects were just...awful to see. Whatever had happened to him, Hammerface was evidently distraught about it. 

The gray experiment raised his eyebrow at her, and she was back to realizing that aside from Pleakley, he was one of the older people in the room. 

But like herself, he had the look of someone who’d been made to grow up much too fast...if he had a “childhood” at all in the lab that was...

Nani returned the gesture, “Listen, I don’t know what’s going on, but I...I do want to let you know I’ll try and help where I can, alright?”

There was no response from Hammerface aside from a shift in his gaze. It was towards his friend, still holding the glass of water. He finally accepted it, clearing his throat as he did so. 

Pleakley cautiously joined in at the experiment’s silence, “And-well-same here Hammerface. I know we didn’t have the best interaction with each other at first, but I’d like to make up for that.”

Still no response from the experiment, but his eyes were filling up with tears. Nani watched as he-rather clumsily-tipped the glass into his mouth and chugged the water, not bothering to wipe it. 

She tried to ignore the drops that fell to the floor in the process. 

It was then that he put his head in his hands and suppressed a sob, Nani quickly taking the glass as he held it out and setting it on the floor next to her. Nosy took over for this, gently wrapping his friend in a hug. 

Nani turned her gaze to the ground, but was interrupted by the experiment himself. “Don’t…”

“Well, I-”

Hammerface coughed, pulling away from Nosy. “I-I mean...thank you, that means a lot, it’s just it finally sank in…” 

“What finally sank in?”

“The...the other three. They come over. They’ve been coming over…”

“I just...they have to hate me now…”

“What?!” She hadn’t meant to sound rude, but after Heat and the others had been coming over for so long, it was hard for her to not look at this as absurd. Nani quickly corrected herself, “I’m sorry-no Hammerface, they don’t hate you, I’m sure of it. In fact it’s the opposite-they’re worried about you, not angry.”

‘But...I-I ignored them all the time, and I never told them why or-or...anything. I just threw myself into caring for them and I think it-”

It was then that Hammerface stopped speaking. Nani could see his eyes widening in some kind of realization before he abruptly sprang up and put his hands to his head, now much more frantic than before.

“I-did it for me! I’m such a piece of-”

“That is enough-I’m not letting you cut yourself down like this.” Hammerface felt a hand go to his mouth, covering it; Nani didn’t know about his teeth, so he had no choice but to do as she said. He instead bared them in a grimace, feeling hot tears streak down his face and onto her hand.

“It’s-the cloning-it’s my fault-why couldn’t I have just-”

Another hand gripped his shoulder. “Cut it out Hammerface, right now.” Nani’s tone was forceful as she pressed her hand harder against his face, “You’re hurting yourself-you’ve gotta stop, this won’t help anyone.”

Hammerface quieted down at her words, sniffling and seating himself on the couch. He felt another hand on him, and looked up to see Pleakley. The Plorgnarian was fighting back his own tears, and his voice cracked as he spoke, “I don’t know much about this programming stuff, but...I’ve seen this before. You remind me of Pixley Hammerface. And that’s not good-she never got...she was never...where you are, right now, but she would push herself and it could get scary.”

“And the cloning incident wasn’t your fault, it was Gantu’s-didn’t you tell Lilo that when you were merged? Why’s that true for her but not for you?” He asked, fixing the gray experiment with a quiet stare from his single eye, “I can tell you really love those three, so wouldn’t you want to keep yourself around for them? It’d be better than doing this.”

Hammerface hung his head, his friends having joined him on the couch, “I...I couldn’t protect them. I feel like I can’t do my job…”

“That shouldn’t be your job Hammerface. You know that.” Felix said softly, ruffling the antenna on the 0-series’ head, “Not to where you feel like you don’t deserve to live if you can’t do it. It’s not your fault-you didn’t know Gantu would do this and…”

“...And well...it’s like what we tried last night Hammerface. You’re less obvious than Felix was, but you’re not subtle either. Heat and Thresher are worried about you. In fact…” Nosy sighed, “...Heat...kind of put us up to confronting you last night.”

Hammerface gazed at his friend in shock, but Nosy nodded, “He did. He felt it was the only way he could help.”

“He…”

“Yeah.”

Hammerface wiped an eye, staring down at the floor of the living room. “That...that shouldn’t’ve happened…”

“Well, it did. He’s not stupid-I’m sure you know. He knew something was wrong, but...we blocked him from approaching you, and then he called us out enough...” 

The gray experiment sniffed, drawing his knees to his chest. He felt exhausted by now-which was probably a good thing, it meant he’d be sleeping throughout his reprogramming and the otherwise uncomfortable method of removing a bacterial infection, but he still felt his eyes drooping from his outburst. 

And even then, through all that, he could sense the program; that small voice at the back of his head telling him the opposite to what everyone else was saying…

...Including him, as of now. 

He was roused from his thoughts at seeing a tissue come into his field of vision, brought by Nani. She gave him a reassuring smile as he took it and wiped an eye. 

“You’re...sure they don’t…?”

She crouched back down next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder, “They don’t Hammerface, I promise.”

“If you want-and if they’re up for it, we can bring them over sometime too. How’s that sound?” Pleakley asked. Hammerface perked up slightly at the idea, but soon shrank back down, “I mean…”

“It’s only if they’re up to it.”

“Can you ask then?”

“Of course! They know about this, right?” Pleakley asked, gesturing to Nosy. The pink experiment nodded, “They do...in fact, I think they’d actually be here if they were allowed.” 

“See? I’ll call the ship when I can.”

The group was interrupted by Jumba’s entrance into the room, a large pair of goggles atop his head, “Alright 033, everything’s set up; I’ll be taking out your illness first, then take your programming, okay?”

The gray experiment nodded, slowly stepping down from the couch and trudging over to his creator. He was surprised, as he was gently picked up and held in Jumba’s arms as he turned to the remaining group, “I may be needing your help, so be ready in case.” 

They nodded, Nosy giving Hammerface a small wave as he was carried out.

The trip up to the aliens’ room was silent, save for Hammerface’s breath in his throat. He was out of breath by now, and he was thankful to Jumba for opting to carry him. He hadn’t done this in years, not since…

Not since he’d first made him, actually.

He was set down onto a mat on top of Jumba’s desk. It felt soft, but he quickly realized it to be a placemat upon closer inspection. 

At this point, he was too tired to care about it.

“033?” 

His creator’s tone was surprisingly gentle as he appeared in Hammerface’s peripheral. The gray experiment raised an eyebrow before quickly casting his gaze down to the ground. 

“I…”

“033...no. This...this is being my fault.”

Jumba’s words came as a shock to Hammerface, who blinked up at him in confusion. “...What?”

“Yes, 033, it is being my fault here.” Jumba sighed, “I shouldn’t have activated your programming the way I did. I thought it would help, but...it obviously hasn’t. I should’ve just let you handle it on your own. And now,” He held up a tool and set it down on the table next to the experiment, “it is being time to fix this mistake. Are you ready?” 

Hammerface nodded tiredly, “Yeah…”

“Alright. Just relax and this’ll be over soon.”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gantu sat on a log outside the house, trying to ignore the dramatics going on inside; the walk to the ship had been tense, as had the interaction with Jumba when he handed the experiments off to him. In a sense, he did regret what he’d said to Jumba when he’d called, but given the current situation was clearly a result of Hammerface’s programming, he found it hard to have any sympathy. 

He’d been sitting a good two hours since reprogramming had started, maybe more. Lilo was at school and Pleakley had left to pick her up, but Stitch had beaten both to the house-and avoiding him as best he could. It was appreciated despite the eventual boredom, though at this time, boredom was preferable compared to the morning’s chaos. 

He could hear the door open from behind him; and a loud sniff told him it was Nosy who’d done so. Gantu crossed his arms, intending to ignore the gossip experiment, but of course, Nosy couldn’t let the moment go without adding in some commentary. 

“It-it’s gone now...”

“Good. Your creator should be ashamed of putting something like that in him in the first place.”

“You shut up about my creator.” 

“You’re the one who opened your mouth.”

“And you’re the reason Hammerface is here.” Nosy snapped, “You and your-your crap revenge scheme-”

“Let’s just cut to the chase because I’m not interested in this; why are you outside, and what’s going on with Hammerface?” Gantu asked, turning towards the experiment in exasperation.

Nosy narrowed his eyes at him for a few seconds before taking a short breath, “He’s getting his programming taken out, and...and he doesn’t...he doesn’t have a concept of likes or dislikes. No hobbies. He just...existed for everyone else. So, he’s probably going to have to stay here for a while.” 

Gantu grimaced at the 1-series in dismay. No hobbies? Nothing he did for himself? Nothing at all? 

He thought back to when he’d first activated the experiment, feeling his heart sink at the realization; even before this programming had been active, Hammerface hadn’t existed for himself. It was common for genetic creations to be made with this programming-it kept them loyal after all-and it was also one of the many ethical reasons experiment creation was banned in the Federation. Unlearning it could take months, if not years, and given the situation at his ship, it might not even be feasible for Hammerface…

Gantu thought to himself in silence for a moment before looking back up at Nosy, the faint beginnings of an idea forming in his mind. 

“I’m going to need to talk with Jumba then.”

“Why?”

“For how Hammerface is going to recover from this, why else?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Therapy sessions?”

Nani raised her eyebrow at Gantu in surprise, “That’s weird coming from you, but then again, this has already been a weird day to say the least.” 

She gestured towards the interior of Jumba and Pleakley’s room, where Gantu could just see the outline of the experiment. Nani sighed towards the bed Hammerface was tucked into before continuing on, “I’ve never dealt with something like this, so I’m at a loss. It’s a good idea, I’m just unsure of how we’re going to go about it.”

He shrugged, “Either that, or having experiments he knows come over to help.”

“I am being in agreement, 033 has been in need of proper support for a long time.” Jumba added, “199 and 032 are insistent on helping, big problem is being Hamsterviel-as usual. If he finds out these are occurring, he will try to manipulate the meetings to his advantage.” 

“I can hear you, you know.” Hammerface interrupted, crossing his arms. His voice was weak, and Gantu could still hear a bit of a rasp to it, but he wasn’t breathless like before. He craned his neck to get a better glimpse of him, raising his eyebrow in interest at the suggestion. “And at that, I’m not sure if that can work; not to actually support you, but that situation at the ship is very delicate to put it mildly.”

“Thanks. I’m aware.” Gantu retorted, “Listen, Hammerface? I’ve seen what you had. It’s mind control, and it’s why I got so angry at Jumba over the phone. You’re going to need something for this. You don’t have to take my suggestion, but I want you to get help for this program you had-and your immunity. You had something you really shouldn’t have had. That pneumonia-whatever it’s called...”

“You have it right.” The gray experiment sighed, putting a hand to his head; he felt uneasy now-a mix of boredom, regret, and anxiety had overtaken him when he’d woken up, and he didn’t know what to make of it. The suggestion seemed daunting to him, but still somehow workable…

He frowned, “I...don’t know. Who’d take me? I’m not human, and I dunno if I’d even want other experiments around me for a bit. Even Lilo and Stitch-after...not after how I started acting around everyone else…”

He paused and squeezed his eyes shut at the last thought; guilt returned to the mix of emotions flowing through him, and he felt a lump form in his throat at it. The old thought of them being angry came back to the forefront, and even though he’d been reassured over and over again that Heat and others didn’t hate him, he would have to see for himself whether they were or not...

Hammerface felt a hand on his shoulder and opened teary eyes to Felix, Fibber and Nosy, the latter of which had been the one to do so. His friend’s voice cracked as he spoke. “...Hammerface, I’m sorry Fibber and I ambushed you last night, I really am, but I could see-you were messing with them. Not just the other three, but everyone in the ship. So, when Heat came to me and-well-he yelled at Fudgy, I took the opportunity...”

Hammerface gulped as Fibber continued, “And...I’m gonna be frank-there is some damage here, but it’s not anything we can’t fix. They were worried for you, but Angel started getting protective of Heat and Thresher. She noticed, and she...well...”

“So she…”

“Yeah, I think she did start listing you as a well-a problem…”

“God.”

Jumba sighed sadly at the notion, “Unfortunately, is being true; 624 has made some comments. She is not being very trustful right now. I do however think she will be understanding in time. Is being ironic-she was made to not normally care about prior experiments in this manner...but the problem is remaining. We need to come up with a plan for how we go about this given Hamsterviel.”

Hammerface looked down at himself and flushed, drawing the blanket further up towards his neck; it’d fallen during the conversation, and the sight of his unbrushed fur and frail frame was upsetting. Felix helped with the task, frowning as he pondered to himself…

He furrowed his brow at the younger 0-series, “Hammerface? I’m gonna take care of everyone back at the ship-if you’re worried about that. I think I can handle them while you’re gone.”

“Thanks Felix…” Hammerface said, “It’s just...I don’t even feel like I should be around them anymore after what happened…”

“You know, if I can cut in a moment...I went through something a little similar when our parents passed.” The early series turned towards Nani in surprise upon hearing her speak. She nodded solemnly at seeing their reactions, “It...happened. My point is, I struggled with a similar feeling for a while before Stitch and the aliens came into our lives, and worse, I was at risk of having Lilo taken away. She doesn’t have health problems like Heat or Thresher or Plasmoid, but I can understand why you tapped into that program the way you did.”

“But,” She held up a finger at seeing Hammerface open his mouth, “what’s done is done, so, given what Gantu suggested and your past in the lab, I think we should arrange for you to see our social worker.”

Hammerface cocked his head in confusion, “...Social worker? How would-”

“He knows about aliens. Roswell-that one crash way back when.” Nosy explained, “We can take care of everyone at the ship, and if you’ll let me,” He cast a glance towards Gantu, “I wanna start letting some free experiments in on this. Our old friends from before we got deactivated.”

“Really? How many?” Nosy felt some relief at hearing the hint of hope in his friend’s voice before Gantu interrupted, “Please don’t tell me you mean 149 and 150…” 

Nosy smirked at the former captain, “Them, 123, 040, 221, 228…”

“300? 177?”

“Even them.”

Gantu put his hand in his face, “I can’t stop you, so I won’t. Just do what you can to get yourself some help.”

“I’ll handle Hamsterviel by the way.” He added, “Someone has to lie in this situation, so that’ll be me.”

Hammerface nodded, thinking to himself for a moment. “So. I see this social worker, I...well, start recovering, and then I go and see our old friends for extra help. Is that it? Or…”

“That’s about it. We can add more stuff if you want, like maybe, group sessions. But only if you’re comfortable.” Nani said. “What do you think?”

The gray experiment nodded immediately at Nani’s question, “I think it’s a good idea.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Night had fallen by the time Felix stood at the door to the experiment’s room, biting his lip in worry. This would be his first time explaining the situation to Heat, Thresher, and Angel, and he wasn’t sure how he was going to go about it…

“You okay?” Fudgy asked, gliding up beside him, “I told ‘em about Hammerface having to leave to the house, so it’s up to you to tell the rest. With me of course.”

“Yeah, it’s just...you know…”

She nodded, “But we have to try.”

“Right.”

Fudgy rapped the back of her hand on the door, “Guys? You in there? We wanna come in if you’ll let us.”

“Okay, give us a minute…” Angel’s voice rang out from the inside. She quietly opened the door to them, her ears flattening in confusion, “Where’s Nosy and Fibber?”

“They’re staying at the house for the night. Can we come in?” Felix asked. 

Angel nodded, standing aside as Felix and Fudgy entered the room. 

The sight the two walked in on wasn’t pretty. Heat was curled up in one of the sleeping bags, evidently trying to hide, but doing an awful job at it. Plasmoid was glaring out the window, joined by Zap and Tank. Thresher, 628, and 625 were sitting in a solemn circle, the latter absentmindedly making a tomato sandwich for Thresher while 628 picked at a stack of completed ones, her normally cheerful expression now tense and somber.

Felix grimaced and drew in a breath; they evidently hadn’t taken the wait well…

Fudgy looked around before letting out a sigh, “Alright, listen, everyone? We have to talk to you, so, if you just wanna...get into a circle or something...and can someone pull him out of there?” She pointed at the sleeping bag containing Heat, “I don’t want him getting tangled up in that thing.”

A muffled “I’m not” sounded out from the bag, but its occupant slowly poked his head out before unzipping it. Felix’s antenna drooped as he saw the reason-Heat’s face was completely soaked in a mixture of tears and snot. He held a hand over his nose and sniffled as he stepped out, more tears streaking down his cheeks. 

“Agh-oh, damn.” Felix took a box of tissues from the cupboard and handed it to the thermal experiment, “Heat? It’s going to be okay, but I know how bad this probably feels…”

“Geez-you make no noise when you do that…” Angel said, flattening her ears at him, “Not even I could hear you in there.”

Heat shrugged, but said nothing. Felix put an arm to his shoulder, realizing how tense he was-as if Heat had been holding in crying the entire day. 

Felix stepped back from the 6-series and looked over everyone else, seeing a mixture of tension and sadness reflected in their faces as they waited for him to explain. 

He took a deep breath, “Okay. Hammerface is alright. He’s recovering and he’ll be staying at the house for some time. He got his programming taken out and he...well…”

He looked back at the 6 and 5 series before going on, “He and I agreed I’m gonna be taking over for him while he’s recovering, and...he wants me to tell you he’s sorry, and he’s going to try to get better for himself-and everyone here.”

“I..don’t know if that’s enough, but it is what he said, and you’re all okay to visit him too, so…” He finished, rather awkwardly amid the later series’ tension.

Quiet murmurs spread throughout the group before Angel stepped forward, “So, he’s not gonna kill himself for us anymore? Basically?” 

“No, he’s not.” Fudgy said, “We just...we want you not to worry, okay? He’s going to be fine and Gantu’s loosening up his restrictions on going out, so you can visit him once he starts getting better. Or...even now, actually. You have the go-ahead from him for tonight.”

The group murmured amongst themselves before 625 spoke up, his voice surprisingly hopeful against the solemn atmosphere, “I’m gonna go take him some sandwiches then-I think he likes ham on flatbread, so I’m gonna dig around the fridge for it. It’s the least I can do after he helped patch me up when he was activated...”

“I wanna go with actually-I...I feel like I have to talk with him since he started acting all weird…” Angel added. She placed a hand on Heat’s shoulder, the latter still holding a wad of tissues to his face, “And it’ll be okay, I’ll come back with info for you three if you’re too, you know-”

“Nah, we’re gonna go at some point. Or I am. We need to talk to him about what he started doing. Believe me-he did that shit back when we were first activated and I didn’t like it then.” Plasmoid interrupted, “Right?” 

Heat sniffed from behind the tissue, but put it down, “I...we should, especially Thresher and I…”

Felix sighed in relief, “Okay, that’s all we wanted you guys to know. You’re still coming over for your exams, so you can visit him then too.”

The younger series nodded amongst themselves, thanking the two older. Felix smiled, “I’m gonna start up dinner with the others, okay? You guys just sit tight for a moment.” 

He was stopped by 625 holding up his finger, the pudgy experiment getting to his feet. “Actually-since I wanna visit right away, I don’t think-”

Fudgy crossed her arms and gave the sandwich experiment a flat look, but he pressed on, undeterred. “Or what about takeout? Or I could make stuff even.”

Felix sighed, “Well, okay-we can order stuff. We haven’t in a while anyways…”

625 nodded, sprinting past the two older series and into the kitchen. Plasmoid, Heat, Angel, Thresher, and Zap followed, Heat making sure to give them a quiet thanks as he passed by. 

Fudgy nodded, watching the group made their way down the hall... 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hammerface’s throat was still a little tender when he awoke; it was later at night by now, and...everything was rather quiet.

That was strange. Jumba had a massive snoring problem, so either he was gone from the room, or something else had happened…

He tried to sit up, only to feel a weight on his chest...and Plasmoid’s sleeping face. 

Hammerface gave a small start before glancing around, the reason Jumba wasn’t in the room now being very clear. 

Angel, 625, Heat, Thresher, and Zap were scattered around the room, Angel and 625 were curled up together, but the others were coming to the realization he was awake. A certain orange experiment fell into the latter category, silently making his way over to him and giving him a shy wave. Heat looked exhausted; there were bags beginning to form under his eyes, and his fur was ruffled around his face and shoulders. He quietly sat down next to him and began to speak, but Hammerface interrupted him before he could. 

“You...came.”

Heat nodded, “I’m...guessing Nosy told you…”

“He did. I’m...I’m so sorry...” 

“It’s okay Hammerface.” Heat put his arm around the gray experiment’s shoulders as he carefully pushed himself into a sitting position. “You’re gonna get better, right?”

“I’ll try.”

Heat bit his lip, carefully stroking the hairs on Plasmoid’s head, Thresher and Zap quietly walking up behind him. “He’s...gonna yell at you when he wakes up, just so you know.” 

“I think I can handle that.” Hammerface placed a hand atop the scorpion experiment’s head, “For a moment back there, I thought I wouldn’t be able to…”

“Handle it or…?”

“Hear it.”

“Oh.”

It was then that the green experiment shifted, blinking up at the older with an irritated gaze. Hammerface gave him a small smirk.

“So, what’re you gonna call me now?”

Plasmoid’s eyes narrowed, “A fucking fossil who tried to make himself into a museum exhibit.”

“Of course.”


	17. Sea Glass

**Chapter 17: Sea Glass**

“Psst, Hammerface.”

“Ih-Hammerface!”

The gray experiment’s vision focused on the ceiling of Jumba and Pleakley’s room as he awoke to being gently nudged, morning light seeping in through the open window just above him. He blinked and yawned, sitting up to see a pair of excited faces staring back at him. 

“What is it?” He asked, only for Stitch to instantly interrupt; the blue experiment started rapidly gesturing towards the door and trying to explain, but he quickly began to stumble over his words. “Tay’s here! We got ‘em all to come!”

“Okay, please-slow down, got who to come over?”

“Bonnie and Clyde!” Lilo exclaimed, “We thought it’d be hard but we talked to Cobra and he said he would help reform them, so part of that is that they get to leave to spend time with us.” 

“Wait, really?” Now Hammerface was awake; he’d heard about Bonnie and Clyde’s situation-it’d seemed as though they wouldn’t be able to visit (or rather, he’d have to visit instead), so potential ones had been unlikely for him. 

Lilo nodded excitedly, “Yeah! They’re downstairs with Carmen, Sparky, and Clip. We’ve gotta go to school, but Pleakley already made breakfast, so you can come down when you can.” 

“Alright, just give me a minute to get up then. Make sure you take your lunch before you go, alright?” He said, watching the two grin and dash out the open door. They were right about Bonnie and Clyde-he could hear the loud voices of the two thieves drifting up from the first level. 

Hammerface rubbed an eye and swung himself out of bed, casting a quick glance over to an old chest-a chest that had apparently used to hold their pods, but now held the two alien’s (ridiculous) disguises and the family’s Halloween costumes. At the moment, a stack of cards was piled up on its surface-with a single exception; one had fallen to the floor once again, most likely swept off by one of them as they’d left the room.

He gingerly took the card in his hand before setting it back, antenna drooping slightly at seeing the cover. A mirror image of himself done in ballpoint pen stared back out at him, its expression kind, but aloof.

...Must be his typical one towards them; Clip did tease that he had a “resting bitch face”…

He sighed and crossed his arms at the card; it was from Heat and the other two, and although they’d managed a couple of visits since their initial one over the last two weeks, it was clear things between them had changed. It wasn’t surprising, but he could still feel some guilt over how he’d treated them as he’d kept tapping into his programming. 

Plasmoid’s favorites-“Fossil” and “Dinosaur”-didn’t even sound like words to him anymore after that.

He furrowed his brow at the card before making his way out of the room; he could-no, would do this...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hammerface was instantly jumped by two of the five visiting experiments when he entered the living room, being knocked to the floor by the orange-jumpsuited newcomers. “You-you little piece of-!” The smaller one shouted out, and he was smacked on the arm hard as she yanked him back to his feet. Despite her harsh words, a tear was running down her face. Hammerface couldn’t tell if it was a happy or sad one. Probably both, since Bonnie immediately pulled him into a tight hug before continuing the verbal onslaught. 

“You idiot! Do you know how worried we were when we found out about ya? Don’t ever do that again or I swear-”

“It’s nice to see you 149.” Hammerface interrupted, gently returning the hug-there was only one way to make her stop when she got like this…

149-now Bonnie-pulled away from him and scrubbed an eye with the back of her hand, sniffing, “I-I just-I can’t believe you were in there and we didn’t even know…”

“Yeah-if we did we’d have busted all of you out as soon as we could.” Her much larger companion added, “But still-we’re gonna get paroled Bonnie; maybe we’ll get another chance.” 

“Uh, yeah, I’d like that chance now Clyde, not anytime in the future-there’s kids in that thing!” She corrected him, but he shrugged, “And you know how weird things are in there, so…”

Bonnie sighed, turning back to her old friend, “Yeah...I guess. This sucks though, can’t deny that.”

“Well, yeah, but anyways-hey Hammerface-how’re ya healing up there?” Clyde asked, “That programming was a big part of you, so are you getting around okay?” 

“Egh, that’s been...a ride. Which reminds me-I have to eat real quick.” Hammerface said, jabbing a thumb back towards the kitchen, “It’ll be quick, but I have to, you know?”

“Oh-then can we follow? Or…?”

“Sure, why not?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’m gonna be honest, we kind of wanted to eat something that wasn’t from the Big House, soooo…” Clyde explained, his tone sheepish as he took a slice of bread from its basket, “Thanks for letting us do that.”

“No problem.” Pleakley’s voice had the cadence of someone about to backflip into spaceship traffic, but he smiled at the group gathered in the kitchen, “I do mean that, six of you at once is just tricky to work with. And there’s the other four from the ship...and Felix and Nosy...”

“What about us though?” Carmen asked, craning her neck to get a better view of him as he tidied up the prior night’s dishes.

“More like what about yourself.” Clip mused, causing Carmen to smirk at her, “I mean…”

“That’s not true, I can cause problems.” She joked, flicking at one of the cherries on her head, “I forced some people to dance when I was activated, that should count for something, right?”

“How fast?”

“Still sarcastic huh…” Carmen grinned at Hammerface as he shrugged, “Look, you and me are the same when it comes to chaos, alright? I wanna know.”

“I mean, humans are pretty slow, but I did make them dance for a whole hour.”

“I guess that’s something-but, Carmen, those people were tourists, so they’re…” Sparky gave a knowing smirk, “They tend to be slow on average...”

Carmen and Clip snickered, but Hammerface cast Sparky a confused glance. “Ah-right, you’re not in the know…” The electric experiment said, “We get a lot of tourists, so things can get pretty annoying.”

“Oh, wow.”

“Yeah it’s kinda...obnoxious to be honest.” Carmen added, “The less contact with them, the better...buuuut it’s also why me making them dance isn’t really counted as evil for these three…”

“If it helps Carmen, you made me dance the Glocknar for a whole day.” Pleakley said, “Not as long as when we lost our bet to Lilo and Stitch over Yin and Yang, but that was pretty evil to me.”

At this, Carmen stuck her tongue out and blew a mock raspberry at Clip, “Ha-now you can’t say anything!”

Clip snorted, “Okay, fine, you win for that one, happy?” 

“Yes.” Carmen took a strawberry from the fruit bowl and started dipping it in sugar, leaving Clip to exchange grins with Hammerface. Carmen and Clyde were the more odd members of their group-they weren’t prickly like everyone else, but they did have an air of passive-aggressiveness that helped them fit in in spite of it.

“Hey,” Clip craned her face over to his, her voice a low whisper, “They’re gonna have to leave by 4, but I took the day off. Wanna go walking then?”

Hammerface blushed, lifting his glass of orange juice to his face to try to hide it, “Sure.”

By now, both their cheeks were magenta, which didn’t go unnoticed. Hammerface could see the rest of his friends giving him sly grins as he set his glass down. He returned it, “What?”

Bonnie chuckled, “Date plans?”

“Shut up.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The day seemed to pass too quickly for Hammerface; it’d been years since he’d seen Bonnie and Clyde, and he couldn’t help but feel a bit dejected as the time came for them to leave. Carmen as well-even though her and Sparky were some of his more frequent visitors. 

The remaining couple now sat on the porch, watching the last few traces of Sparky’s electricity disappearing over the horizon as he headed for his lighthouse. Carmen and the other two had long since made their way down the path, caught up in an argument over Bonnie trying to sneak a bag of potato chips from the house. 

He felt a clawed hand take his own as Clip rested her head on his side, smiling up at him, “So, wanna head out? It’s just up to the hammock.” 

“Sure, sun’s setting so it’ll be a good view.” 

The trip up the stairs was short and quiet, the two leading each other by the hand as they made their way up them. Aside from pointing out a few flowering bushes, neither of them had much to say on the way over. 

The air was still when they reached the hammock, the sun dropping down towards the treeline. Faint bird calls echoed around the area as Hammerface climbed into it, reaching down to lift up his partner. 

She smiled up at him as the two settled down beside each other, the orange glow of the sunset giving her eyes a purple hue. He flushed and placed his tail around her, drawing her close. 

They were silent a few seconds, watching the glow start to light up the skyline. He felt Clip lean into him before she spoke, her normally high voice having lost its usual edge. 

“It’s...been a while, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah. Too long to be honest…” He sighed as he looked out over the horizon, watching a flock of birds fly in the direction of the mountains. “I wish everyone was out and-you know, away from them, but…”

“I know. I wish things had gone differently too, it’s been lonely at the spa. The people there just think I’m an Earth cat, so they leave me alone most of the time.” She said, “It is funny, just...wish you could be there...”

“Then when I get out, they’re gonna have to deal with a hammer-headed T-Rex too. How’s that?” 

Clip giggled, “Well, we should get started on the plans then, right?”

“Do those plans involve telling Gantu he’s a dick?”

“I mean, that’s more your territory, but you _can_ use your program being gone as the excuse.” She entwined her arm with his as she went on, “I know you didn’t get to come out often, but I wanna take you somewhere once this is all over. Almost puts all this to shame.” She gestured around at the forest with her free arm, “Not that this view isn’t pretty, but the beach over there? It’s amazing up close at this time.”

“I can imagine...our waterfall at the ship? It’s pretty impressive when the light hits it just right. And sometimes, after it’s just rained, the pools around there are like mirrors.”

“Yeah, that’s always something I’ve liked about Earth. There’s all these little quirks about it that just pile up into all this…”

She cast a glance up at the sky, where the light was deepening into a dark blue dotted with stars. It was nice to sit here with him. It was also sad, but that wasn’t a thought she cared to deal with right now…

“Hey.” She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned back to him. His eyes were screwed up in a slight smirk as he asked his question, “Wanna hear my first Earth compliment?” 

“Aw no-you ain’t comparing my eyes to-”

“The night sky? Yes.” 

She snorted and flicked his arm with her claws, “Oh god, that’s something 044 would say- _ironically_.”

“Come on, you know you like the comparison, I can see it…”

“You’ve been reading a lot of Earth poetry, haven’t you.” 

“And?”

“And, I…” She flushed and felt a lump grow in her throat, “I think that’s amazing you’ve been doing that…”

His expression turned solemn, “It is, isn’t it…”

She took her hand out from his arm and placed it over his, “I’m just...glad you can be yourself-for real, not having that program in the background.” 

“So you do like my compliment then.”

“Yeah, yeah I do 33. And I like that you’re free now-at least from that...” 

He didn’t respond, but Clip felt a small tap on the side of her head. She turned and smiled, placing her forehead against his nose. He couldn’t properly kiss anyone, so they’d come up with this instead, years ago in the lab...

“Can you promise me something?” She asked when they pulled back. 

“Yeah?”

“I dunno what’s going to happen in the future, but can you just...promise you’re gonna take care of yourself?” 

He nodded, “I’m gonna try-and I do have someone who loves calling me a dinosaur if I don’t, so…”

“Then tell Plasmoid I’m proud, and that I support him in calling you that.”

Hammerface laughed, “I will Clip, don’t worry.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stars blinked overhead as the two made their way back to the house, a slight breeze starting up as they stood on the porch. 

She felt wistful now, contemplative, saying goodbye to the one person who’d bothered to approach her after her creation, understood her drive to eat hair instead of uburnium, who’d snuck around with her in the background of their missions together-all probably for the last time…

It wouldn’t be their last meeting, he was still at the house after all, but time felt like it was somehow running out, and she couldn’t place her finger on why. 

Clip started back on the path towards her home; usually, she’d have run or rolled into a ball, but not this time around. This time, she felt like walking the whole way. 

Maybe they had time. But maybe...her thoughts then went to the 5 and 6 series on the ship. 

No-they didn’t. They had to move. And fast. 

She narrowed her eyes and cast a glance up at the stars, feeling the usual determination start to rise up within her.

“You’d better let them know, Hammerface…”


	18. Full Circle

**Chapter 18: Full Circle**

Hammerface hummed to himself as he flipped to the last page of the guide he’d been reading, sitting on the first step of the house. It was his last day, and Gantu would be there for him soon. Despite the family’s worry for him being alone outside, he’d insisted on staying out...mostly because it’d just be easier for Gantu to pick him up.

A distant thudding came from the path leading up to the house, soon followed by the large shadow of the former Federation captain. Hammerface looked up and promptly cocked his head, turning it to the side for a better look. 

Gantu had clearly stopped to get the week’s groceries on the way, as he was trying-as best he could-to hold onto several large bags overflowing with food. Hammerface could see 625’s sandwich supplies and a total of five baguettes sticking out from the bags, along with several packages of meat and fish pressed up against the sides. 

He stared at Gantu as he walked up, putting the book on the step beside him and quizzically raising an eyebrow. “Uhh...do you need help with those?”

Gantu shook his head, “Technically yes, but I’d like you to not carry these after what you were here for.”

Hammerface sighed, “Fine. Lemme give this back to Lilo first.”

The trip back to the house was silent at first, but it wasn’t long before Gantu started up an awkward conversation with the tool experiment.

“So...there’s new rules about you doing work around my ship. That stuff’s my territory now, alright?”

“We already went over this…”

“Yeah, but I want you away from work for a bit. You can still cook, but not without someone else for example. Maybe teach the other three-Heat still seems to think he can just heat things in his hands.”

“Again?”

“Yes.”

“Oh god.”

Gantu sighed, frowning at the surrounding forest, “There’s a reason for that. I’m sure you know why…”

The experiment grew solemn at the thought; just from the small visits the other three had made, things had turned shaky at the ship. If anything, they’d seemed to almost regress back to how they’d been when they were first activated. 

He frowned, concern rising up within him. “I didn’t. Not until that thing was taken out. And now, it’s funny-I almost feel like staying with the family, like you giving me up would be a good idea.”

“But it’s not.” 

“No. And I’d be abandoning them while I was at it.”

Gantu glanced at him in worry, “You sure you’re okay to come back? Jumba and Nani said you could stay a week more if you wanted.”

Hammerface nodded, his expression somber, “Yeah, I have to fix this, otherwise things there are gonna keep getting worse.”

“Well, you’re right, I just don’t want you to start neglecting yourself again.”

“That’s understandable…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Alright, you go and have your reunion, I’m putting all this in the fridge, hopefully 625 hasn’t ruined it again.” Gantu said, leaving Hammerface alone in the front entrance. 

He drew in a breath and crossed his arms, feeling his stomach clench in apprehension; things had deteriorated here, that was certain-and worse, it seemed he didn’t even know the full extent of it…

“Okay, come on, you can handle this…” He said to himself, his voice a low whisper against the hum of machinery above. 

Making his way down the hall was surprisingly difficult-he’d forgotten how big the ship truly was, and only found his way to the experiments’ room from the loud conversations emanating from it. He paused outside, closing his eyes and trying to calm himself. How would they react to him? How had things changed? And was anyone new added?

No-scratch that last one, Nosy’d never let him hear the end of it if that happened…

He slowly opened the door to total silence. Everyone inside was staring at him, looking equally as nervous as he was. However, it was only a moment before the silence was broken by excited screaming and shouting; Hammerface was swarmed by near everyone-and a certain pink 6-series who crashed into him with enough force to knock him to the floor.

“Augh-Angel, get off of me!” he yelped, but he didn’t need to, as Angel was lifted off him by a grinning Fudgy and Felix...the former of which wrapped him in her own embrace. Hammerface could see she was crying, drops of chocolate streaming down her face as she sniffled, “Hey, w-welcome back...”

He couldn’t help but tear up himself, returning the hug and not caring about getting completely covered in chocolate-this was rare for Fudgy for obvious reasons, so he wouldn’t let it go to waste. 

“It’s good to be here again...I mean-not this hell situation, but-”

“We know! We’re just happy you’re okay!” Angel exclaimed, “And I’m...I’m sorry…”

“Oh, that’s fine Angel. I understand.” He said. He instinctively reached out to pat her head, but stopped and looked at his chocolate-covered hand, “Ah-sorry-lemme just...wash this off…” 

Fudgy snorted at seeing her handiwork, “Heh-sorry about that, it’s just you got back and, you know…”

He nodded, “Yeah. I’m glad I could come back.”

But, this thought was soon overtaken by something odd; no Heat, no Thresher, and no Plasmoid.

No Zap either, but maybe he was with Plasmoid. 

Angel’s ears drooped, seeing his expression change as he realized this, “Oh...Hammerface, Plasmoid’s walkin’ around the clearing with Zap, but Heat and Thresher are…” She scratched the back of her head and pointed up to the top level, “They’re...well, I think you should talk with them once you get all the chocolate off…” 

“Ih-you should, Thresher especially’s been kind of off ever since you left.” Tank added, “Not that he talks about it, but still.”

Hammerface nodded, “Okay, thanks you two. I uh…” He looked around at the group before Nosy and Fibber cut in, “We’re gonna be backup-we know a bit more about them, but you’ve gotta talk with them on your own.” The former said, “Let’s just say that Angel and Tank are right on this…”

He gulped, nodding in agreement…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sound of the elevator had alerted the two experiments to his presence, as the top level was all but abandoned when he entered. Hammerface looked around in dismay; this place was one unwelcome sight by now…

It was dusty and rather dirty up here, now that he’d been away from it for so long. A small pile of rags stood in the corner, and he vaguely recognized them as the same bedding they’d slept in when they were first activated. Hammerface curled his lip in disgust at the sight, just as he had before.

This was strange, but maybe it wasn’t too surprising. From what Nosy and Fibber had told him, Heat and Thresher had withdrawn in the weeks following his visit to the house. It had a lot to do with their attempts to find out what was happening to him prior, and it almost sounded like they’d become depressed over it.

A small brushing sound caught his attention, and his vision was drawn to the shuttle as a silhouette disappeared from view within it. Hammerface gave no indication he’d seen them; he hadn’t told either that he had near 360 degree vision to go with twisting his neck, so he hadn’t even had to look up to catch them. 

He silently made his way over to the elevator, pressing the button on the inside and watching it travel up, then back down. 

It was only a few seconds before the trick worked, as he saw the two start to climb out of the shuttle’s hull, only to freeze upon seeing him. Their expressions were guilty, and they hunched up nervously at the sight of him.

He sighed, feeling his stomach tense up again, “It’s alright guys, I just need to talk to you for a bit. Can you come down please?”

They paused for a moment before doing so; Hammerface could see the extent of Thresher’s injury now-he was using his tentacles to lower and steady himself on the ground, Heat standing by in case things went wrong. His antenna drooped at the sight; Thresher had several torn muscles and ligaments in his leg from rather accident-prone clones, and it wasn’t very noticeable until he had to jump or run-or steady himself like now. 

The two slowly made their way over to him, and he could see they were refusing to look directly at him. Understandable, but still saddening; it was no wonder Nosy and Fibber had offered to be backup…

The three stood in silence for a moment, Heat tugging at the antenna on his arm and glancing around nervously and Thresher studying the floor. 

Hammerface drew in an anxious breath before starting, “About...how I was...I want you to head downstairs with me, first off, this place is filthy, but I want to let you know I’m sorry for what I started doing and…”

The two remained silent at this, but Hammerface caught Thresher peeking up from the floor. He continued, “Please, just come down okay? It’s not comfortable up here, this is where I would go to-”

The two nodded immediately at this statement, Heat sniffing and rubbing an eye. Hammerface noticed they looked puffy-not like he’d been crying, but as though he’d been getting allergies from the dust. He placed a hand on the 6-series’ shoulder, “Come on, it’s gonna be okay, but we have to talk.” 

The two let him lead them to the elevator, Nosy and Fibber stepping back to give the group some room as they entered. Even so, Hammerface couldn’t help but question Nosy. “Hey, we got any allergy meds in here?”

“Oh, um-yeah, we do…” Nosy’s ears flattened at seeing the reason Hammerface was asking, “I’m gonna go and get ‘em then.” 

Hammerface nodded as he led the two to a room. It was Gantu’s entertainment center-not theirs, but his, complete with a half-finished bottle of water next to a huge chair and a communication center. Hammerface set the two up on the floor before sitting down himself and beginning the talk. 

“Okay, now that we’re out of there, please. You two, I want to know what is going on; I’m not...going to be upset-please don’t worry about that…”

They remained silent at first, but it wasn’t long before Hammerface saw a tear hit the floor from Thresher as his voice broke, “I-I’m sorry-we shouldn’t be doing this-it’s just-it was really-” He coughed and for the first time, raised his eyestalks to look at him properly. 

He didn’t speak again, and the three sat in silence for a few moments. Hammerface clasped his hands together, thinking to himself before beginning, “I...I have no excuse, and you two have every right to be scared and not trust me anymore. I went out of line and worse, I don’t even quite understand when it started going the way it did. I thought I could control that program. But I couldn’t, and I didn’t realize it had such a horrible effect-not just on me, but on you. Nosy told me about Angel and…some of what you three did trying to find out about me and...”

“...And, if the two of you-and Plasmoid-feel like breaking off from me is best, then please-do that. I didn’t mean to hurt you, but I did anyways. And that’s-that’s my biggest failure now. Hurting myself when what you really needed was my support.” He finished, now feeling his own tear streak down the side of his face. He clenched his teeth and quickly wiped it away, watching them for a response. 

He waited a while before he suddenly felt a pair of tentacles go to hug him, their owner giving him a sad grimace, “We don’t-we don’t want you to leave, it’s just…”

“It was really scary and we didn’t know what to do!” Heat blurted out, now crying himself, “We didn’t know and-and-”

“We didn’t know how to come up to you and you wouldn’t even look at us or you’d give some kind of excuse and-” He broke off into quiet sobs as the 0-series watched them in silence; maybe it was the mood, but Hammerface suddenly had a good idea of why Heat was typically silent when crying-he sounded like a sad Earth cat and it was evident he was aware of it...

He walked over and hugged the 6-series, Heat returning it and burying his face in his fur, “God-I’m so sorry you two…”

“Nosy told me you got really involved in trying to help me, and I’m so disappointed I put you through that-that I dragged you in and let that thing hurt you. So, it’s okay if-”

“NO! Just...just please don’t hurt yourself for us and…” Heat’s voice was strained as he lifted his face out of the 0-series’ fur, “And-well, this is from Plasmoid, but we don’t want you to treat us like kids anymore and leave us in the dark…we got the rest of the early series to stop, but...”

“Ah…” Hammerface closed his eyes a moment, “I...that’s hard, you are kids to me; we’re twenty years apart and it’s...difficult to look at you as anything but. It’s difficult for most of us... But...I’m gonna try; I’m not sneaking around planning things behind your backs again. That was wrong of me-and Sparky too.”

For the first time since he’d found the two at the top level, Heat and Thresher’s faces lit up slightly, “So, you’re gonna let us in from now on?”

“Yeah. If you can, try and catch me if I slip up.”

Heat smiled, hugging the older experiment along with Thresher. Hammerface returned it, feeling tears well up in his eyes again…

...That was, before a new voice entered the room. 

“Hammerface?”

He raised his eyes to see Plasmoid standing in the doorway, his ears drooping and a sad look on his normally smug face. Upon seeing the plasma experiment, Hammerface reached out a hand, beckoning him to join in on the hug. 

Plasmoid scuttled forward and pressed up against the older experiment. Unlike Heat and Thresher, his face was sad at first glance, but cold upon closer inspection. He gave him a hard stare before starting his questions. 

“You’re not killing yourself for us anymore?”

“No.”

“And I can retire the dinosaur nicknames?”

“If you want, I’m gonna try and let you in from now on.”

“I’m gonna take that as a yes then, so they’re officially retired-for now.” 

Heat snorted and broke off the hug along with Thresher, ruffling the hairs on Plasmoid’s head and picking him up, “Why not permanently?”

“Well, I need to see it first before I can do that.” 

Hammerface laughed, “Okay, then I’m going to tell you about what happened when I was staying there. Is that a start?”

“Good enough, just don’t infodump like Nosy.” 

“I heard that!” Nosy’s voice rang out from the hallway as he pushed open the door, a bottle of pills in his hand, “Anyways-here-Heat, take these, I don’t want you gettin’ allergies from that top level.”

“‘Kay, thanks Nosy.” Heat took the bottle and squinted at it, rubbing an eye and sniffling quietly. Nosy quizzically looked between the four of them, “Soooo, Gantu and a few others are takin’ over dinner tonight, you four good to eat or…?”

Hammerface looked between the later series, who all nodded in confirmation, “Yeah, I think we are Nosy, thanks for telling us.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A pink blur met Hammerface as he came to the kitchen, having taken a shower prior-being covered in chocolate, tears, and snot had required it, and it jumped up and down excitedly before wrapping him in a tight hug. 

“I did it! I cut up a pomegranate!” Angel shouted, taking his arms and waving them as she proceeded to start dancing. Hammerface looked to her in confusion before she explained, “They’re a huge bitch to open but I did it! Sparky taught me and his method worked!”

“Ah…” He smiled, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what these are, but if you’re happy about them, then that’s good Angel. Just...maybe let go of my hands so I can head into the kitchen?” 

“Aw-sorry! I’m just really happy you’re not weird anymore too.” She said, grinning to him, “By the way, we got some extra special stuff for tonight, so I really hope you like it.” 

Hammerface shrugged, “It’s just good to be back Angel, food or not.” 

“Don’t say that, here!” She reached out a hand, “I can speedwalk you there, I really think you’ll like what we got tonight!”

“Alright, fine, just go easy. Heat told me the horror stories.” 

He didn’t look up immediately as he was walked into the room, but the smell told him all he needed to know before he got a proper look. 

The table was completely covered in food; there was so much, Hammerface couldn’t even see some of the plates underneath. There were burgers from 625 and Gantu, roasted potatoes (probably from Felix), salad, a huge bowl of fruit, grilled chicken, the list went on…

“I...I thought this was just for the week…” He said in disbelief, lifting a finger and pointing to the table in shock, “I…”

“Some of it was, but there’s almost 20 of us here anyways, so we figured to go all out this time...and it’s January, they were having some sales to get rid of their Christmas junk.” Gantu explained, “Plus, I wanted you to have a better victory feast than the one you got last time.”

Before Hammerface could respond, he felt a bowl shoved into his chest. Looking down revealed a gigantic mound of dark red and pink seeds. He looked to Angel in confusion, but she instantly explained herself, “These are the seeds I was talking about, they’re gonna go out of season soon, so these are some of the last ones we’re getting and I really want you to try ‘em-”

“Okay, that’s enough Angel! He gets it and he can serve himself, right?” Nosy called from the table, heaping a large amount of potatoes into a paper plate. 

Angel pouted, “Awww, fine…I’ll take ‘em back to the table then…” 

Hammerface snorted, “I’ll have some, just let me get a plate first, okay?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nosy was quiet during dinner-or at least, more quiet than usual, and for good reason.

His friend was talkative tonight. 

It was the first time he’d seen Hammerface as energetic as he was; the gray experiment seemed almost hyper as he told the rest of them about his time at the house. They’d been present for a few of these adventures-like the talent show for instance-but the rest, neither him nor Fibber had been there and well, he felt hopeful. For the first time since the four’s diagnoses, Nosy finally felt hopeful. 

Not that they could bust out anytime soon, but they were closer now-much closer. And it was for two simple reasons.

One, his friend was better now. 

Two? Bonnie and Clyde now knew they were in here...


	19. The Beach

**Chapter 19: The Beach**

“So, anyone have plans for today?” 

It’d been a while since Fudgy had last said that, and it felt good to be back to doing so on the regular. Everyone else seemed to feel the same; she was greeted by a large chorus of shouting from them about their plans for the day. 

Among them, she could hear a soft, but nasally voice say “Reading” and smiled, chuckling at everyone’s renewed enthusiasm, “Okay, okay! So everyone has a full schedule then-that’s good to see.”

“It is isn’t it?!” Angel exclaimed, “I’m gonna go off and see Stitch ASAP today-I wanna go and see what Lilo’s hula class is like, so I’m gonna head out as soon as Gantu leaves!” 

Fudgy snorted, “By this point, you can just leave whenever you want. He’s really laid off after Hammerface came back to us.”

The gray experiment flushed, only for Angel to nod in agreement, “It’s true Hammerface-ever since you got back, Gantu’s relaxed a ton of his rules for us.” 

“Well, that’s good where you’re concerned...my end I can’t even unclog the sink without him yanking me away from it…” Hammerface sighed and tore up a piece of toast in his hands, shaking his head in exasperation, “It’s good to know you guys got a break at least, you needed one yourselves with what was going on.” 

“I’d take the inability to unclog sinks as a blessing if I were you.” Plasmoid said, wrinkling his nose, “625 puts all his crap down there and it gets real nasty if you don’t-”

“Plasmoid…” Hammerface grimaced at him, causing the scorpion experiment to immediately change the subject, “Anyways, I’m gonna be in the clearing with Zap, so…” He looked up to the laser experiment, who grinned and nodded, “We took that up a bit after you left. It’s nice to not have Gantu on our backs anymore, so we’re taking advantage while we can.” 

Hammerface smiled, “That’s nice; you two enjoy yourselves out there.” 

Both nodded, bounding away from the table and calling out a thanks as Felix took their plates. Hammerface watched them go before casting a glance at Heat; he’d been quiet throughout breakfast, and he was a little concerned given the stress he’d recently been through. 

However, said concerns were dashed when Heat caught his gaze, his eyes darting off to the side at Fudgy’s initial question. Even with his absence, he’d learned to recognize the signs of the heat experiment’s growing crush on Kixx-at least, some signs-notably, the shyness whenever the subject came up.

It reminded him of Clip honestly. Not really her, but how she described his initial behavior around her; shy, and nervous when he was normally more confident around everyone else.

At the same time, given Heat’s reaction to his return, he hoped that was the only thing that made himself and the 6-series similar…

Heat slowed down with his food, starting to turn pink, “So, I’m gonna go out today-like, out to the beach-”

Angel grinned and signed, “To see 1, right?”

“Yep, so I’m gonna leave, like, right now.”

Heat placed his dish in the sink and sprinted out the door, face now completely magenta. Hammerface watched him go before raising an eyebrow at Fudgy. She shrugged, “We found a way to get around the gerbil; they just call him 1 right now, and Fib taught ‘em some signing on top of it. It’s funny-there’s so few 6-series they can get away with calling each other by their last digits.”

“Huh-wait-what do you mean, found a way to get around him?”

She deflated slightly, “He started calling us more. Sensed weakness I guess. We fooled him, but, you know…”

Hammerface grimaced, “Oh-that’s bad. Did he notice anything or…?”

“Nah, but we’ve been talking outside more often. That and signing like I said before, right Fib?”

The smaller experiment nodded, “It’s a little difficult, but they’re getting the hang of it. I’m looking up other stuff for Thresher and Plasmoid since they don’t have fingers. It’s working fine since Hamsterviel never tried to learn any, but we’re still being careful.”

“Ah.”

“Anyways,” Fudgy stood up from the table and took Hammerface’s now empty plate from him, “Felix and I’ll be taking care of this, but you can help with lunch if you want.”

Hammerface tilted his head at the 1-series, “Are you sure?”

“Hammer. We survived a month. A whole month.” Felix said, holding up his hands, “We got this, you can do whatever, ‘kay?”

“Well, okay…”

A sudden scream of “SHOOTA!” caused the 0 and 1 series to jump, Nosy dodging an orange blur as it shot through the kitchen amid protests from the others. 

“I forgot-I was gonna take my sketchbook-sorry!” Heat exclaimed, dashing back down the hall and towards the door. 

Nosy shook his head, “Oh boy. Wanna see him off with me Hammerface? I don’t know if Gantu’s left yet.” 

“Sure.”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The orange experiment was easy to catch up to, the reason being just as Nosy suspected; yet another argument between their captor and his companion could be heard by the entrance. Plasmoid and Zap were waiting with him, the former rolling his eyes at the ongoing bickering. 

“Hey guys, how long ‘til that leaves?” Nosy jabbed his thumb towards the main entrance, “Speaking of which, what’s it about this time?”

Heat shrugged, “I dunno, something about tape recorders? It’s dumb whatever it is…”

“Not to me it isn’t.” Nosy said, “Don’t worry, I’ll sneak around and find out on my own later on.”

Heat nodded, hugging his sketchbook closer to him; it’d grown a little weathered in the months since he’d gotten it, and Hammerface could see...burnt pages? 

There were a few pages in the book that were singed a dark brown and black, their edges curled up like dead leaves...and from yet another point onward they seemed to change to something else; maybe paint?

He blinked in surprise. Had he...really been isolating that long? He felt he should know this…

Hammerface’s thoughts were interrupted by the end of the argument, signaled by Gantu shouting at 625 and stomping out the ship’s entrance. He guessed this was in part due to the arrival of Angel, who sped right past them with a quick “bye” and dashed out the door.

Nosy shook his head at the abrupt end before turning to the others, “Welp, that ended fast-you guys make sure to hang back from Gantu when you head out, alright?”

“We know-thanks though.” Zap said, making his way down to the entrance with Plasmoid. Heat however flushed and remained silent, evidently waiting for Gantu to cover some distance from the ship. 

“And how about you? Gonna show off your new stuff to the others?” Nosy asked, turning his attention back to Heat, “You’ve been gettin’ back into pens and pencils I think, right?”

Heat perked up at the question, “Oh-uh-yeah! My energy’s almost back up, so I’m not shorting out so much; it’s not happening all the time like back in September.”

September? It was that long ago?

Hammerface nodded, hoping his confusion wasn’t showing. “That’s great to hear Heat; tell the others we said hi, alright?”

Heat smiled, “Sure! And uh-Hammerface, when I come back, I wanna show you some of what I drew while you were gone. You don’t have to do that.”

...Clearly he’d failed. But, then again, that was probably a good thing-he had promised to be more open with the three after all. 

He smiled, “Well, okay Heat, thanks for catching that. Have a nice time out there.”

Heat nodded and repositioned his book, making his way to the front entrance after Plasmoid and Zap. Hammerface felt Nosy’s hand go to his shoulder as he left, turning to see a reassuring smile from his friend. 

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll catch up in no time.” 

Hammerface sighed, “It just feels wrong to me; I should’ve been there and yet…”

“Well…” Nosy frowned and glanced towards the hallway, “You’re here now, right? And you had your talk with ‘em. Best thing you can do now is be there for them in the present.”

Hammerface nodded, “Yeah, you’re right. But...I wanna ask something.”

“Yeah?”

“Did you and Felix take over when I was...like that?”

“Are you gonna be…”

“Upset? No, I just want to know.”

Nosy glanced off to the side, taking a breath, “Then yeah-we did. Gantu recognized something was happening with you as well, but you were isolating yourself, and we couldn’t reach you. So we took over as support for a while.”

Hammerface stood quietly, crossing his arms and squeezing his eyes closed in thought. Nosy then suddenly found himself wrapped in a hug by the tool experiment, which caused him to start in surprise, “You’re not mad?”

“Why would I be mad? I was in the wrong and I-I’m really happy you were there for them-that they didn’t have to go through that alone...”

“Aw.” Nosy returned the hug, ”I’m just glad you’re back Hammerface. You were affected as well, program or not. We wanted to help you too, even though ya wouldn’t let us at first.”

Hammerface nodded, “Just...thanks Nosy.”

“You’re welcome-which reminds me,” Nosy pulled out of the hug and glanced towards the kitchen, “The other three and Angel got wind of some weird holiday coming up from Hunkahunka. I think it’s called Valentines’ Day? It sounds like something that’d apply to you and Clip from what I found on it. I already told the others, but want me to fill you in?”

“Sure, just try and stay on topic.”

“Awesome.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Heat flipped through the sketchbook in his hands as he made his way through the forest and onto the main road leading to town. It’d been a while since he’d bought it, and the reason he’d been slow with filling it up was...not the greatest. 

He’d abandoned it for a while, ever since his tests came back and his treatments left him too exhausted to draw. He’d also ruined some of the pages, both through shorting out and frustration that’d resulted in several becoming tearstained…

Heat sighed and shook his head at the thought of said burnt pages. He didn’t want to dwell on that time. October was a blank to him, both literally and figuratively; its sole highlight was Angel and Nosy celebrating Halloween for the three, but it was otherwise a harsh month. Same with November...and December.

December especially.

He didn’t notice the ground beneath him change from dirt to asphalt and jumped, nearly dropping the book in the process; his energy sense was back to normal, so the changes were a little shocking to get back into…

“Hey, isn’t that...?” A gruff voice came from down the road. It wasn’t human, in fact it belonged to someone he’d met before, during that time.

The owner of the voice soon sidled up, followed by her twin. Yin gave Heat a smile and a wave, her normally cold demeanor melting-as usual, just for him, Lilo, Stitch, and Thresher. 

Maybe some others, but he hadn’t been outside in a bit.

“Oh-hey Yin and Yang!” Heat quickly returned the wave, running up to greet them, “How’re things?”

She shrugged, “Ah-the same; we finally got some plants on our island though, so that’s been cool. Yang also entered in a sculpting contest for the fair, so he’s been practicing in our yard.”

The lava experiment crossed his arms at the last point, flushing slightly, “It’s a month or so off, but I got started early-I’m usin’ my lava for it.”

Heat grinned, “Oh-that’s really cool Yang, I’m sure your entry’s gonna be great.”

“Thanks.” Yang returned the grin, relaxing a little, “How’re things your end? Better?”

“Yeah, I’m almost back to normal actually! Except you kind of surprised me just now.”

“To be fair, you kind of surprised _me_ -it’s the asphalt. Makes things a little fuzzy.” Yang kicked at a loose stone on the road, watching it bounce into the bushes, “But that’s good to hear, way better than when we first met ya.”

“I take it you’re going to see Kixx, right?” He added, gesturing to the sketchbook, “We can walk you to the beach if you want, we’re headed near there anyways. There’s a new experiment around-he’s got his own food stand right now, but I’m sure that’ll change soon given his function.”

“Huh.” Heat mused, “Sure! I just ate, but I’ll have a look around when we get there.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Okay, this is where we’re partin’.” Yin said, the three coming to a stop outside the food stall, “The beach isn’t far from here, so we’ll leave you to it-unless you wanna drop in for a moment.”

Heat nodded, “I’ll come in, thanks for walking with me though.”

“Eh, don’t mention it, we just happened to be around.”

It was at that moment when a gray and white head poked its way out of the stall, gazing down at the three-mostly him in the center of their little group. 

The experiment squinted down at him in confusion before raising a curious eyebrow at their group, “Ah-you’re Heat right? From Fishface’s ship?”

“Um..yeah?”

“Oh, nice-I’m 062, called Frenchfry now, but I knew 033 back in the lab. He used to help me out before I was deactivated.”

“Deactivated?”

“Yep. Faulty programming, what’re you gonna do. Big thing with us 0-series if you couldn’t tell.”

“Oh…”

The experiment shrugged, “Ah, don’t be like that-I got it taken care of when I was activated on here. Speaking of which-hold on a moment,”

“You two’ll be gettin’ the usual?” He asked Yin and Yang, who nodded, “We’ll wait at one of the tables if you want.” 

“I won’t be long, but you can do that-”

“Hi.”

Frenchfry’s eyebrows raised and he let out an irritated sigh. “Nevermind.”

Two newcomers peered at Heat from the depths of the stall-one of which being very familiar.

344 stepped back, evidently awkward given their last interaction, but the other, an icy blue experiment, grinned and waved, “Hey 609! It’s good to see you on Earth!”

“Weird situation aside, but still.” He added, shrugging, “I can come out right? I heard about the whole energy thing, so I wanna make sure.”

Heat nodded, “Um...sure, but...who are you exactly?”

“He’s 523-Slushy now. 344’s Dupe by the way.” Yin explained from the table, “Slushy wanted to see ya, but couldn’t-was afraid of taking your energy away and of melting, so he couldn’t visit.”

Slushy nodded, Frenchfry gesturing for him to step out. “You too,” He pointed to Dupe, “make up with him.”

Dupe started, but did as the 0-series said, carefully stepping outside the stall after Slushy. He remained awkward, glancing at the ground as he made his way up to the heat experiment. 

Heat frowned; he hadn’t seen Dupe ever since he was merged, and to see him still so...down about it was a little sad. 

“Uhh...Dupe now?” He asked as the yellow experiment came up, “It’s okay, Gantu’s just shitty, right?” 

The cloning experiment sighed, “Well...you guys shouldn’t have to have gone through that at all…it’s...I guess it’s because I didn’t have to use my power, I was just panicking and did it anyways...” 

Heat frowned, glancing down at the ground, “Well...I’m almost back to normal now, and I’m not gonna blame you for being scared; I don’t think the other three would either.” He offered a reassuring smile to the 3-series, “It’s fine-I’m just happy to see you got a one true place.”

Dupe returned the smile, “Well, if you think that Heat, then I’ll trust you on it.”

“You could help him out with a place when they escape, you know.” Slushy said, shrugging, “If you still feel like you wanna make it up to them.” 

“Hey, yeah! Only if you want though…” Heat tilted his head at Dupe, watching as the 3-series perked up, “Huh-well, I’ll try…”

“You two take me up on that when you get out, okay? I’m a little forgetful.” He explained, “It can get pretty complicated, so I can help with finding homes and stuff like that.”

“See? It’s not that big a deal.” Frenchfry cut in, carrying several plates and a to-go box-the latter turning out to be Heat’s, as he handed it off to him on his way to Yin and Yang’s table, “It’s not lunchtime yet, but I made you some stuff. Used a bit of my power for it, but I don’t think it’s gonna be a problem for you given your function.” 

“Oh,” Heat took the box and peered inside, seeing a large assortment of fried fish, well...french fries, and sauce packets nestled up against each other, complete with a small, separate package containing a cookie. “Thanks Frenchfry, I’ll tell Hammerface you said hello.” 

“You’re welcome Heat, and thanks.” Frenchfry said, “Best get going though, there’ll be humans here soon for the lunch rush.”

“Oh-right! I’ve gotta go, it was nice seeing you guys!” Heat said, repositioning his book back under his arm, “And thanks for walking me again.”

Yin raised her glass of water from the table, “Anytime.”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He ran most of the way to the beach after his encounter, feeling much more optimistic now that he’d met up with so many other cousins. He slowed down upon coming up on the beach, scanning the area for any sign of the purple experiment. 

It’d been a while since he’d seen Kixx, about a month. 

Actually, he hadn’t seen him ever since Hammerface had gone to live with the Pelekais. 

He was almost done glancing around the beach when he felt a presence behind him, followed by a poke on his shoulder. 

“You gonna share that?”

Heat laughed and craned his neck up at Kixx’s face, “Hey! How’ve you been?”

“Good. You don’t hafta mention why you weren’t around by the way, Sparky told me.” 

“Ah.”

“I’m just glad you’re fine after all that, it sounded rough.” 

“It kind of was…” 

It was then that another person came up on them-or rather, two people, one of which overtaking her companion and almost crashing into him. She was a gold experiment, slightly smaller than him and wearing a black tank and shorts. Heat only barely caught a glimpse of a purple gem on her forehead before her hands went to his shoulders.

“HOLY-609?! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!” She exclaimed, eyes wide through a fluffy mohawk, “I didn’t think I’d get to see you! How are you?!”

Heat’s ears flattened at the greeting, “Uhhhhh….”

“Oh-right!” She said, “I have a new form...hold on a moment!”

She disappeared in a puff of purple smoke, reappearing in front of him and causing him to almost drop his things in shock. 

“610?”

She sniffed, grinning at him through teary eyes, “It’s “Witch” now, but yeah...it’s me 9.” 

“I-um-”

“I can take those for a moment.” Witch’s taller companion offered, “618, Crystallene by the way, even if we knew each other in the lab.” 

Heat promptly dropped everything, enveloping Witch in a tight hug, “I...I can’t believe it…”

It’d been years since he’d seen 610. They hadn’t had many interactions in the lab, but to him, every one had counted. It seemed it had to her as well, as she was now crying into his fur, “I thought-after I heard-” 

“I’m just glad you didn’t get caught.” Heat wiped his eyes and sniffed, smiling at Witch as she pulled away from him and transformed back into her prior form, “What’re you doing around here? Or-or thinking of doing?”

She grinned, “I’m staying with Kixx right now; I’m so powerful there’s actually too many options for me.” 

“Yep, I’ve been taking her around the island so she can get an idea of what she wants to do.” Kixx explained, “It’s hard due to her powers though, so we’ve been looking for a couple weeks by now.”

“Oh, cool! That’s awesome of you.” 

Kixx shrugged, “You guys are twins, so it was the least I could do. I know you were worried about her and Lilo agreed the house wasn’t safe, so she ended up at my place.”

Heat felt his cheeks flush at the comment; it was offhand, but it was also so genuine...

Evidently, it hadn’t gone unnoticed, as he felt eyes on him and turned to give Witch a flat look. She was smirking, but he could see it was a light-hearted one. 

She glanced between the two and smiled, “I’m gonna go and head down the beach with Crystal for a bit, okay? Just to the end of it.”

Kixx raised an eyebrow, “You literally just saw the person made six hours before you for the first time in five years and that’s what you want to do?” 

“Well, no, but I get the feeling he wants to talk with you. Like. Just you. So, I’m gonna give him some room to do that.” Witch placed her hands behind her head and smiled, making her way back over to Crystallene as the two set off down the beach.

Kixx shook his head at the two, “I hate when they have super intelligence like that. They notice everything. Wanna find a spot for your lunch or…?”

“Oh! Right…” Heat glanced back at the box, “Is there anywhere we can sit?”

“There’s a bench by the walkway.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Geez, that’s a lot to take in…” Kixx’s ears flattened as he gazed out at the ocean, watching the waves break against the shoreline, “He’s fine now though, but man…”

Heat sighed, crumpling up the remains of his food and placing it back in the box, “I’m just glad he’s back and not all messed up like before. Nosy’s keeping an eye on him since they’re friends. And probably ‘cause of his powers.”

“Well, that’s good at least. Still sucks he dragged you three into his problems like that. Seems to be an early series thing.”

“It’s weird. I think they feel responsible for us, so they overcompensate or something. Just in Hammer’s case he went too far.” Heat kicked at the sand beneath the two in thought, “It’s nice they’re trying to help, but...I don’t know.” 

Kixx shrugged, “You guys have a bad situation over there; I think they just don’t know what to do about it.”

“Yeah.”

Heat felt for the sketchbook and pulled it to him, casting a glance towards the ocean. He’d never gotten a proper look until now, but with the two seated next to each other, he could see the entire bay. It was a beautiful sight, the cerulean of the shallows fading into a deep, dark blue signaling the deeper waters. 

He hoped it was warm water-it’d mean he’d be comfortable in it since he could swim…

“Soooo…” Kixx began, “I noticed you carrying that around all day. Your sketchbook I mean. And you’ve been pink ever since I tapped ya on the shoulder.”

“And now too.” He peered at Heat’s now bright magenta face, “...It’s cool if you don’t wanna say about the latter-”

“I uh.”

Heat coughed, feeling a knot grow in his throat. Why did he feel like this? Sure, Hamsterviel was terrible, but he hadn’t called that much over the past month-Gantu would always come in and distract him…

“I...do you...do you…”

He trailed off and paused, now frustrated at shutting down. 

“I think I know the last two words, you don’t have to finish.” 

Heat cast a glance towards the ground; Kixx’s voice was soft and quiet, far removed from the normally louder and raspier tone he used. 

It sounded nice. 

“I’m...kind of glad you asked. To be honest.” 

He glanced back up at the fighting experiment, who gave him a gentle smile. Heat blinked as he realized Kixx was also flushing.

“I like you too.”

Despite the atmosphere, Heat couldn’t help but tilt his head in confusion, causing Kixx to chuckle, “And that’s one of the things I like you for by the way, but...yeah.” 

“We haven’t seen each other much, but I can tell you really care about people, like you wanna make sure everyone’s okay. And you’re not afraid to stand up to people either-Sparky looked super embarrassed when he said how you told him off for hiding things. And there’s how you look after Angel, even if she’s the most annoying 6-series we have next to 625.” 

“I just...when you get out of there, I want to keep getting to know you, you know?”

Kixx heard a sniff and turned to see Heat; he was crying, but he could see a smile through the tears. 

“I-I’m sorry I couldn’t say it…a-after what happened with both me and-and...I just...”

Kixx placed an arm around Heat’s shoulder, himself feeling a lump grow in his throat. “Aw, Heat…don’t be sorry, this kind of stuff is pretty big...and Earth’s weird about it too. It’s fine.”

Heat nodded, wiping his eyes.“Didn’t realize I’d be doing this so much today…”

“Maybe it’s just your way of processing stuff. Me? I shut down when I’m in public, but I’ll cry in private.”

“Is that…”

“Good for me? Dunno, it’s how I’ve always been.”

“Huh.”

Heat sniffed and opened the to-go box, taking out one of the remaining napkins. He blew his nose with it and tossed it back in, turning his gaze back to the ocean and noticing how the light reflected off the water. It was beautiful, the waves sparkling in the sun as they crashed. 

...That was before he realized he’d forgotten the sketchbook again. 

He blinked and picked it up, Kixx glancing at it in interest, “Oh yeah, you brought that to show your art off, right?”

“I did…” Heat laughed, “I guess I forgot with all the waterworks.”

“Good time to open it up then. I think Witch and Crystal reached the end of the beach.”

Heat smiled, turning to the first page. His smile turned to a grin as he saw the subject. 

Kixx peered over and raised his eyebrows.

“Startin’ with the best, huh?”

Heat chuckled, “Maybe…”

The first page held a pencil sketch of well...himself, face grinning, small ears perky, the upper pair of arms crossed. Kixx squinted; it looked familiar, almost like Heat had just paused the TV to draw it-because it was clearly from his infomercial. 

He looked to Heat, whose face was pink. Kixx could tell this picture meant something to him beyond being the first sketch of his book. He’d loved him for a while, it seemed…

He blinked, catching Heat’s gaze. The thermal experiment was watching him with a shy smile, as though waiting for him to say something. 

He smiled back, “You got everything perfect.”

Heat’s face flushed even further, the shyness starting to return. “...Thanks…”

“Wanna show off the next one?”

“Oh-yeah, sure!” Heat flipped to the next page, this one showing a sketch of Nosy and Hammerface. “I made this a little while after Nosy joined us-got permission for it and everything. Then there’s also this one,” He turned to the next, showing Plasmoid charged up and ready to attack something, “I...got yelled at for it because I put his nose wrinkle in. Even though we all have one. It was funny.”

Kixx snorted, “Must be interesting with Plaz around.” 

“It is! We have the opposite problem, so we actually balance each other out sometimes; he sits next to me when I get tired from my exams.”

“That’s nice of him; those fusion chambers can really do a number on you depending on how long you stay in one.” 

Heat nodded, “I dunno how they work, but they’re really annoying-speaking of.” He held up the next one, Kixx bursting into laughter at the sight of a drawing of Angel. “Oh god-how is she by the way?”

“Back to blowing raspberries at me, so I think she’s good.” 

“Great.”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They’d gotten through a quarter of the book before Witch returned, leading Crystallene by the hand. It almost seemed like she’d appeared at random given the only way they noticed her return was her hand sliding over one of the pages. 

Kixx was unamused, “Aaaannnnd now I have to leave, otherwise I’m probably going to get possessed.”

Witch withdrew her hand and crossed her arms, “Seriously?!”

“Oh come on, you can’t even do anything to me.”

She snorted, “So it seems…”

Heat raised an eyebrow and looked between them, “...And what does that mean?”

Kixx grinned, “She tried to possess me when she was activated and failed big time. Turns out having immunity to pretty much everything minus Angel’s song really messes with that kind of power. Dunno why.”

Heat turned back to Witch, who gave him a sheepish smile and shrugged, “I was evil okay? Or amoral or whatever. Didn’t expect to run into other experiments here.”

He laughed, “I’m guessing you were shocked?”

“Well yeah, I’m actually lucky since Gantu would’ve found me for sure if I did it to anyone else.”

“Huh. Ironic.”

“Yep.”

“Anyways, sorry we didn’t get to talk much, but I’m sure we’ll get other chances, right?” Crystallene asked, “It’s good to see you’re doing okay, all things considered.”

Heat nodded, “I’m sure we will; the only rules for me are that I have to be back by sundown, so I can stay out until then.”

“But...yeah, I’m gonna head back then. It was nice seeing you again.” He took his things and stood up, almost instinctively glancing at the ground.

This meant that he didn’t see what came next. 

It was a small peck, almost nonexistent, but his face burned up immediately and he put his book over it in shock. “Oh-”

It was a moment before he lowered it to see Kixx’s face. He was smiling softly, but Heat could see he was blushing as well. 

“I-uh-good-goodbye then.” His voice came out as a whisper against the waves. 

“Until next time, huh?”

“Yeah...”

Heat turned and began to walk back up the beach. He could hear the three behind him, but their words were drowned out by the sound of his heart beating in his chest. 

When he was far enough away, he held his hand to his cheek. It still burned, and burned even more as he remembered the kiss. 

Just like that song on one of Lilo’s records he supposed…

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A step into the experiments’ room alerted everyone to the heat experiment’s arrival. Or rather, just Hammerface and Nosy, who were bent over at one of the tables over some papers. At the sight of him, they looked up, exchanged glances, and then walked over to greet him. 

Nosy wasted no time; he overtook Hammerface and reached him first, clearly eager to know what exactly had happened. “Holy-did what I think happened happen?!”

Heat, still pink, could only nod, confirming Nosy’s question and causing him to pump both fists in the air in triumph, “YES! HOLY CRAP YES!”

Hammerface smiled to the 6-series at the news as his friend continued to celebrate in the background, “So I’m guessing you told or...?”

Heat nodded and pointed to his cheek, Hammerface tilting his head before he realized what exactly he meant. 

“Aw.”

The memories of Clip started to come back at seeing this; their sixth or so meeting to be exact. They’d been assigned to a mission, and well...she’d ended up pecking him on the cheek on the way home. To see this was almost a sort of parallel...

“Well,” He glanced back to Nosy, “Felix is in charge of dinner tonight and not me, so you can take all the time you want before telling us more, okay?”

“And only if. You don’t have to if you don’t want.”

Heat nodded, “I...I’m gonna tell. Or sign.”

“You do that then.” 

Heat nodded and sped off, leaving both older series to exchange smiles behind him.


	20. Demote

**Chapter 20: Demote**

Midday in the ship was humid-at least outside-he was keeping the inside temperature in check while everyone else got lunch ready.

...That and keeping an eye on Hammerface. 

Despite his recovery, Hammerface was still having to stick to the new rules for the ship, so himself, Thresher, Plasmoid, and Angel tended to be the experiments brought in to help watch him-if nothing else, just to remind him to stop and take a break. It looked like he appreciated it, even if Heat had caught an irritated glance from him once or twice. 

He’d been helping the gray experiment prep the snacks; originally, it’d been slicing a watermelon, but Hammerface had decided to move to something else after he’d gotten a little too close. 

Heat’s thoughts were interrupted by the aforementioned 0-series, who’d abruptly glanced up and started staring at the open doorway. He found himself doing the same upon seeing his expression change from calm to tense. 

Felix and Nosy, who’d also been helping, froze as well. 

“Everyone, get into our room, right now.” Hammerface whispered, “Something’s happening out there.” 

Sprinting to the room revealed everyone else had already congregated inside, Angel locking the door behind them as they entered. The others were pressed up against various corners of the room, nervously eyeing the door; some (like Plasmoid) had powered up-a missing strip of metal along the wall indicated that even Tank was apprehensive. 

“Plasmoid, turn that off-people’ll hear it.” Fudgy said, turning an irritated eye towards the scorpion experiment. 

Plasmoid shook his head, but a quick glare from Hammerface forced the issue. He indignantly closed up his tail as the voices began to make their way past the room. 

“...What the hell is going on?” He hissed as the hallway quieted down, “Why’re so many people heading in here?”

“It doesn’t make any sense…unless…” Fibber cast a glance to Hammerface, “Do you think…?”

Hammerface’s eyes widened, “He couldn’t have…”

“...I think he did.” Angel confirmed, her ear pricked towards the door, “I can hear Lilo and Jumba out there.”

“What?”

“Yeah, hold on a sec.”

Angel opened her mouth as a flood of voices began to pour out into the room. Sure enough, the aforementioned voices-and that of Nani-could be heard underneath the general cacophony, all mentioning “King Gantu” with everyone else. 

Heat felt sick listening to this-these were the people who’d taken them in and treated them for their mischarged molecules and cloning injuries and now...now they were being forced to follow Gantu. A quick glance around revealed everyone else shared the sentiment, Nosy in particular holding a hand over his mouth in horror. 

The room stood in silence once Angel closed her mouth, now looking just as ill as the rest of them. 

It was a while before Fudgy spoke, her voice low and uneasy, “We’re in trouble-if he’s controlling them, then…”

“Then all the free experiments are in danger-and not just them, I mean-” Hunkahunka said, casting a wing over to the other room, “What’re we gonna do? If some of them are staying here, then we won’t be able to do anything about this…”

“That’s even if we can...” Hammerface said, narrowing his eyes at the door, “On the other hand, he’s adjacent to Fibber and I, so we know how to deal with him.”

“Then can we? Because…” Heat felt a lump start to grow in his throat at the idea, but Hammerface nodded in agreement, “I feel the same Heat. It’s not the first time 029’s gotten into the wrong hands, so we have a chance at freeing them. Still doesn’t erase how gross it is to hear “King Gantu” from them…”

“Blech. Anyways, if we’re getting out of here and helping them, what’s the plan?” Fudgy asked, crossing her arms, “If some humans stay behind, then we’re going to need to make something up to get by them-on top of other stuff in case we run into anyone outside.”

“Right…” Hammerface thought for a moment, “In that case, we’re going to say we’re his...ugh-his “servants”. Those of us with combat abilities can also say we’re soldiers, so we may be forming a new army-”

He was given a light punch by Thresher, who stuck his tongue out at the idea, “We’re not being Gantu’s army anymore.” 

The tool experiment snorted, “I thought that would get a laugh, but we will have to-at least we’ll have to look like we are, alright?” 

Plasmoid smiled, “Fine; let Zap, Angel, and Tank join then.”

“Done.” 

“I’ll lead us then-I can take us into the less populated areas until this is over.” Nosy added, Hunkahunka and Amnesio nodding beside him, “And these two’ll fly above the canopy as lookouts.” 

Hammerface crossed his arms, “I think we have it then. Fib, your thoughts?” 

Fibber nodded, “The explanations are good, but we should still be prepared to run if we have to; they’re only really going to believe Gantu, and who knows what he’s told them about us.”

“This also means…” He gestured towards Thresher, “I want you to let us know if we’re going too fast for you, okay? We may have to run and it might be really sudden, so I want you to be prepared for that.”

The purple experiment bit his lip, but nodded at Fibber’s words, “I’ll try…”

“Okay, good.”

“Alright, as soon as they clear out, we leave.”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ship was empty when the group finally ventured out, Hammerface, Felix, and Nosy taking the lead. The former and Fibber breathed a sigh of relief at not having to use their explanations, and the trip into the undergrowth was surprisingly easy. 

...Not that the humans’ (and aliens’) absence made things any less tense however; Nosy and Hammerface made sure to keep away from the streets, even the highways and side streets. On the surface, it made no sense-they were empty today, but then Heat realized they were probably trying to avoid any controllees who happened to be driving.

Given their typical sizes, it made sense.

That and Hammerface and Fibber knew 029. 

Following the group took a while, both due to distance and the slow speed they were made to walk at. He found himself starting to let his guard down-despite the situation, the surrounding forest was quite pretty to walk through. Some of the others had started doing similar before Nosy stopped, holding out his hand for them to do the same. 

“We’re here. Birds of Paradise.” 

They were still deep in the undergrowth, but squinting revealed a large setup in the distance-and Gantu sitting in what appeared to be a makeshift throne. 

Angel couldn’t help but let out a snort at the sight, “He really had to set that up.”

“I guess.” Heat added, shaking his head, “He looks so dumb from here-I’m sure it’s worse up close.”

“Okay, Hunkahunka, Poxy, Amnesio? Try to see what’s going on for us.” Nosy whispered to the three.

They nodded and flew up, Poxy hanging onto Hunkahunka’s back as he flitted into the canopy above. 

The group waited in silence..for all of two minutes before a commotion could be seen breaking out in the hotel. Upon squinting, Heat could make out the small frame of a bright green experiment making their way across the covering above Gantu. It was easy to see their power, as their arm was stretching far out of sight. He breathed a sigh of relief at seeing said arm return with Lilo, holding her out of the way of the chaos unfolding below. 

Everyone else watched in shock before the leaders turned around-Hammerface quickly throwing his arms out to shield them. Heat could see his face contorting into hysterics along with Nosy’s-in fact both of them were turning a bright magenta from holding in laughter. 

“What? What’s happening over there?” He asked them, but Hammerface shook his head, “...Let’s just say the ship’s laundry was backed up, and I don’t want Angel making...jokes.”

“Don’t even think about it, I’ve seen you reading those damn shark facts late at night.” He added, narrowing his eyes at the now smirking pink experiment. 

“But I wanna say my favorite word now. Twice.” 

“Angel, no.”

“Please?”

“I said no.”

“Ugh, fine!”

The argument was suddenly interrupted by a loud scream from Gantu, followed by tittering from the canopy. All three experiments tumbled down and onto the ground in hysterics. Poxy slid off Hunkahunka and started banging his fist against the ground, his tiny body shaking with high-pitched laughter. 

“What-what happened now?!” Felix asked them, his own voice now trembling at the idea of the chaos evolving even further. Amnesio squeezed his eyes shut as tears started to slide down his face, “We can’t tell you-it’s so gross, I can’t believe 625...”

He sputtered and hung his head, continuing to giggle, “I-I think we’re free now, I don’t think he can come at us anymore…” 

“So, Gantu’s without his pants and we’re all out here now.” Fudgy put her finger up to her lip in surprise, “Huh-he’s right, I think we got out!” 

“Hey, yeah! How far are we from the house? We’ve gotta head over there before he finds us.” Angel said, turning back to Nosy and Hammerface. 

Nosy thought to himself, “Well...this hotel’s a little far, so we’re going to have to be careful going there. Everyone, follow our-”

“Follow your _what, 199_.” 

The change in circumstances registered to no one as the group collectively looked up at Gantu, closely followed by 625; the latter was grinning and proudly holding up his pet cockroach, and although the former was glaring at them with his hands on his hips, he was greeted by a roar of laughter from the escaped experiments. 

“Aw sick! Why do you even have those?!” Angel screamed, yanking her ears between hysterics, “What, did Hamsterviel make you get ‘em? Or-or-”

Plasmoid snorted, “Nah-forget about where he got them, Heat, Thresher, I dunno about you, but I think I could go for a name change-this is so freakin’ nasty…” 

“Yeah, I’ll go for one, also, 625, why’d you take Jimmy out?” Thresher asked the gold experiment, who smirked, “What, you didn’t hear all the screaming?”

“I think we’re done here, thank you 625.” Fudgy said, wrinkling her nose at the implication. Heat looked to her in confusion, but she shook her head and gave the former captain a disgusted glare. “On that note, it doesn’t matter if you want us to come back, you’re not in the position to make us do anything.” 

Hammerface crossed his arms as Gantu balled his hands into fists, “Really?”

“Yes, really.”

It happened in a split second; one moment, he was on the ground next to Angel and in between Plasmoid and 628. The next, he was being grasped tightly in Gantu’s fist and held above everyone. Heat’s mood whiplashed between the prior hilarity of the situation and the newfound terror of being held by someone fifty times his size in their underwear. 

He could hear people screaming for him to be let go and he considered biting Gantu-Hammerface would’ve done so in a moment-but a wave of nausea crashed over him at the thought and he pursed his lips instead. 

And then...he felt something else.

His heart. He hadn’t noticed, but it was racing and his breath was quickening to match. He felt lightheaded and squeezed his eyes shut-how’d this happen exactly? Why did it have to be him? Why was it him?! Why…

He felt himself start to go limp, but before his vision could go dark, he was suddenly thrown to the ground. Heat covered his face in fear. The forest was quiet-save for his breath and pounding heart; he wondered why it was, but was too scared to open his eyes and find out.

“OH GOD-HEAT-ARE YOU OKAY?!” Someone rushed over to him and he felt a hand go to his shoulder, only to recoil with a gasp from the owner. He took his hands away from his face to see a horrified Angel standing over him, holding her wrist.

Her _singed_ wrist. 

He stared at it in shock-had he done this? He’d never done this before-never in 7 years of existence had he ever burned someone, not even unintentionally…

Heat scrambled to his feet and swayed, disoriented. Looking around revealed everyone staring at him in stunned silence. He was too afraid to turn around, but the shadow over him told him even Gantu was just as shocked as everyone else. 

He felt sick; Angel was still trying to touch him and he didn’t know if he was still releasing energy....and with that, there was only one thing to do…

Angel put out her hand to stop him, but a knot grew in his stomach at the idea. She was speaking to him, but nothing was registering.

Heat turned and ran into the brush, the undergrowth ripping into his ears and fur…

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unbeknownst to Angel, her shouting had alerted someone to the commotion in the forest. They soon revealed themselves as a yellow streak descending in between Gantu and the rest of the captured experiments. 

Sparky wheeled around and glowered at the former captain, charging up his antenna in fury, “What the hell’s going on here, you effin’ whale? What have you done now?!”

“What have I done?! They’re the ones who tried to get out-”

“DON’T YOU DARE GIVE ME THAT CRAP! NOW WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!” Sparky’s scream was loud enough to send flocks of birds flying out of the canopy, “And where’s Heat? I thought I saw him take off when I found you.”

“He ran off after nearly burning me. And he burned Angel-”

“My fur’s singed, not burned, asshole.” Angel snapped, “He didn’t get me at all, and the only reason he did it was because you grabbed him!”

Sparky cast a glance to Fibber, who snarled and pointed his middle finger at Gantu in confirmation. 

He turned back up to Gantu in disgust, “So you, knowing that Heat’s sensitive, knowing that Heat has health problems, decided you were going to grab him, as, I assume, a hostage for everyone else to get them to come back with your sorry ass. Is that right?”

“It is, and we need to find him and calm him down. He took off and with his powers...I dunno.” Hammerface confirmed. 

Sparky bared his teeth, “Damn-you leave that to me; I’m immune to his energy abilities-not the main one, but I can handle this.”

Hammerface crossed his arms in worry, “Well, okay, just...be careful with him, alright?”

Sparky nodded and took off, leaving the rest of the group behind…

It didn’t take long to find Heat-mostly because Sparky could see a faint trail of smoke forming a path through the forest. Following it led to a small clearing...and one terrified energy experiment. Sparky raised an eyebrow; from what he knew about Heat, he would’ve expected him to cry. The fact that he was so quiet was a bad sign in this case...

Lighting down revealed Heat was covered in twigs and stickers, most of which were shriveling up from the heat energy he was giving off. Sparky carefully made his way over to him, making sure to not touch him after what he’d heard from Angel…

“...Um, hey, Heat?” 

He had no experience dealing with someone like this, but he had to try, being the only person there who could touch him without being burned…

The 6-series didn’t answer, instead giving him a dull stare. Sparky could see he was shivering. He seated himself on the ground next to him and drew his knees up to his chest, “It’s okay Heat, I’m gonna just wait here until you’re good to talk.”

It was a few minutes before Heat calmed himself. He copied Sparky and buried his head in his knees, but spoke anyways, his voice muffled against them. 

“...How bad is it?”

“The…?”

“How bad did I-”

“Heat, I’m going to stop you there; you didn’t burn Angel, and you didn’t burn Gantu either in case you’re worried about him. Both let go before it could happen.”

“I...also know what happened to get you to start doing it, and…” Sparky paused a moment, “...and I want you to know, it’s normal. At least for us, it’s normal.” 

Heat’s voice cracked, “Then-then I don’t wanna be normal…”

“Heat, no-what I mean is that it’s normal for us to give off energy when we’re scared. It’s a defense mechanism; I’m sure you know this, right? Did Jumba tell you before you were deactivated?”

The orange experiment took his face out of his knees, nodding to Sparky. 

“Okay, so you know. But...I understand that this doesn’t feel good. I’ve shocked some people before on accident-it’s not fun, even less so when we don’t have control over it like we think we do. It’s the reason why I’m not touching you right now-I know I felt the same when this happened to me.”

Heat sniffed, “It’s just, we were so close to getting out and now…”

Sparky sighed, “Aw. Yeah...it looked like it was a really sudden escape too. I’m sorry Heat.”

Heat bit his lip and scuffed at the ground with his toe, “It’s just…was I...are we really going back because of me?”

“What?! No-please don’t tell me you think that.” 

Heat winced, “But…”

“Alright, think of it this way; even if they were going back because of you, do you really think any of them would blame you? Please-think about it.” 

“But what if it’s true?”

Sparky’s antenna drooped, “Heat, Gantu shouldn’t have grabbed you. If anything, he’s the reason, not you; you being sensitive doesn’t mean you’re weak. I really want you to understand that.” 

Heat found himself disbelieving Sparky, but he didn’t let it show; why’d he just panic and then almost burn everyone? And what if he _had_ burned them? What if he’d…

He nodded, hoping he looked like he agreed. 

...It didn’t get past Sparky, whose ears drooped in response. “Okay...Heat, if you’re gonna do that, then I want you to talk to someone you’re comfortable with. Just tell me you’ll do that, at least?”

Heat hung his head, “Okay…”

“Alright…you feeling good to head back then?” 

Heat nodded, standing back up and sniffling. 

“Right, let’s get you back to Hammerface…”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He’d lied to Sparky again. It was wrong and he felt horrible for it, but something about Sparky suggested he didn’t know the full story…

It was late at night in the ship now, and he was unable to sleep despite his exhaustion at the days’ events. Everyone else was asleep but him, and it was quickly becoming difficult to handle-Nosy, unsurprisingly, had a snoring problem. 

Heat gulped and drew his knees to his chest; he hadn’t bothered to tell them anything, and even if Sparky was right, it didn’t take away that he’d still panicked instead of doing anything useful. 

Now, they were all stuck back in here, with a screaming gerbil and someone who apparently wore pantyhose...he wished the latter part was still funny to him, but a close-up had forever ruined it.

Maybe…

Heat turned towards the door before giving everyone a quick glance. Maybe...he should just leave. He was the only one who cried and panicked that easily-Nosy and Fibber knew how to control themselves, so did Thresher and 628-even Angel despite appearances could keep it together...and they weren’t actually dangerous to anyone if they did lose control…

Heat slowly stood up and stepped between the numerous makeshift beds, putting a hand over his mouth in case he bumped into anyone or made any noise. 

Opening the door revealed the darkened hallway. He glanced around, but saw no one. His gaze traveled to the ceiling, and he slowly closed the door behind him as he stepped out into the ship…

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A yell and a splash from outside woke up Angel, who rubbed her eyes and made her way to the window. She squinted, then gasped at the unmistakable outline of a soaking wet Heat scrambling towards the forest. 

“HEY-HEY GUYS?! GUYS WAKE UP, HEAT’S-”

A hand quickly went over her mouth and she was dragged back from the window by Hammerface, but it was too late. A light turned on from Gantu’s room as Nosy flicked the one in theirs on. “Angel, if Heat’s running off, then why’d you yell like that? Especially after today?”

“But-”

“Nosy, come on, she was probably just shocked and blurted it out.” Hammerface countered, “I think most of us would do the same.”

Nosy sighed, “Okay, you’re right, but Gantu’s going to try and chase him.”

“No, he won’t.”

“...And why would that be…”

Hammerface turned towards the door, “Because I’m going after him.”


End file.
